A Love Within Three Hearts
by AmYzA
Summary: updated, and thanks to reviewers Sequel to 'A Fling'. Read What If? and A Fling first before reading this. Hana & Rukawa are back in Shohoku, & somebody's returning home to Japan. A Love Triangle
1. Default Chapter

A Love Within Three Hearts  
  
Disclaimer: Slam Dunk, and its original characters do not belong to me. It belongs to Inoue Takehiko. All the unoriginal characters in this fic are mine, though. What If?, A Fling and A Love Within Three Hearts is a trilogy. If you haven't read the other two stories, read those first.  
  
Summary: Sequel of A fling.   
  
Chapter 1  
R.Len Xiao Tian Adam watched the scenery of New York City from the balcony of his penthouse apartment in Central Park West. His mother had just died a few days ago.  
  
"Mr. Rukawa," the lawyer called.  
  
Len gave him a glare. "For now, can you please call me Mr. Adam?" asked Len. "I don't like to be called by that man's name,"  
  
"Mr. Ru -, I mean, Mr. Adam. Your mother had left a will just before she died," the lawyer replied.  
  
"What did she say?"  
  
"Let me read it for you, 'to my son, I left him 1/2 of my money left in the bank accounts stated below. While the other 1/2, I leave it to my other son, of whom I never visited, Kaede,'"  
  
"Let me continue, Mr. Ru -, I mean Adam, all Ms. Adam's money in bank accounts not quoted here, will be donated to the children in the third world region," continued the lawyer, when he saw Len's surprised face.  
  
"And I request my son to leave New York City, and return to Kanagawa, Japan," the lawyer ended.  
  
"What? Leave all this?" Len outraged. "What about mother's other assets in the company?"  
  
"Mr. Rukawa, all the shares that your mother owned are now under your name, of which she had instructed the bankers to freeze, until you return to Japan, and accept your brother and father," the lawyer answered.  
  
"What if they won't accept me?" Len asked.  
  
"It's not in the will, but she really wished that both of you will get along well, and she added, "the penthouse apartment will go on rent, and the money will be put into your account, but, you can only withdraw 10% from the rent every month,"  
  
"Who is responsible to place the money in my account?" asked Len again.  
  
"The tenant will pay straight to your account every month through the bank," the lawyer answered.   
  
"What about my permanent move to Japan?" asked Len.  
  
"Your mother had applied for your Japanese nationality, and its already approved, all you've got to do is pack up and leave," the lawyer answered.  
  
Len sighed wearily. "What about school?"  
  
"It seemed that your mother had left letters to all your teachers and school, that you are leaving for Japan for good. She instructed it to be sent the day she died,"   
  
Len sighed again. "Why does she always manage to control my life?" he asked himself.  
  
"Enjoy your stay in Japan, Mr. Rukawa," the lawyer replied.  
  
"Don't call me that," he gritted.  
  
"Your mother instructed everyone of us to call you by your real surname. She wrote that, it's time for you to accept your father's name, and not use your mother's maiden name anymore,"  
  
"What about my 'family' over there?"  
  
"They've been informed of it, and they are now getting ready to take you in. Mr. Rukawa, sr. is very glad that you are finally going to live with him,"  
  
"Okay," Len answered, uninterested.  
*****  
Japan...  
"Young master Taka, young master Kaede, Mr. Rukawa requested you to be in his study," said their butler.  
  
"What does he want to talk about?" Taka asked.  
  
"I've no idea, young master Taka," answered the butler.  
  
Kaede just shrugged his shoulders.  
  
"Hello, father," both of them greeted.  
  
"Hello, I assume that both of you wanted to know why I called both of you to the study?" asked Mr. Rukawa. Both nodded.  
  
"Look at this photograph," Mr. Rukawa said, and handed over a framed photograph of a 16 or 17 year old.  
  
"He looks just like me!" Kaede exclaimed.  
  
"He's your twin, Kaede," Mr. Rukawa said softly. "His name is Rukawa Len Xiao Tian Adam, or more precisely, Len Xiao Tian Adam Rukawa, but the boy put his Japanese name at the very front, shortening it to 'R', so that nobody knew he's a part of the Rukawa family,"  
  
"But you never told me that I have a twin!" Kaede stormed.   
  
"I did! As you know, your mother, Mei Li Ann Adam, and I, divorced when both of you are mere 5 months old, we divorced after your grandfather found out that I had a wife, your mother, Taka,"  
  
As a legal adult, Taka understood why his father divorced his mother. Both didn't love each other, but was forced onto a marriage, which failed miserably. But, as Taka observed, Kaede didn't take the news of his newfound brother maturely. Taka only knew Kaede's existence when he was 14, when his mother died, and his mother's last wish was for Taka to go to his father, and accept him, and Kaede was 10 at the time. And Kaede didn't talk to him at all, until four years later, when he's 14, and asked for an opinion about high school.  
  
"That's not the point now, father, the point is, why *why* you didn't tell me all this at the first place?" Kaede asked. "You expect me to accept him just like that?"  
  
"Your mother died a few days ago, Kaede, and he's moving here, you have to accept him,"   
  
Kaede couldn't help but act maturely. Sure, he never knew who his mom is, except that she's a very beautiful Chinese-American, and it's from her that he inherited his cold blue eyes.  
  
"Your eyes always reminded me of Mei Li Ann, Kaede, she had those same eyes, come to think of it, your grandfather, Daniel Adam, has the same eyes as well,"  
****  
A private talk between Mr. Rukawa and Kaede...  
"Father..."  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"You said I have my mother's eyes, and my grandfather's eyes, is grandfather not chinese?" asked Kaede.  
  
"Your mother was Chinese-English-American, her great-great-great-grandmother, a Chinese, married an Englishman in Hongkong, then, they emigrated to America to find a better life, and there's where you great-grandfather started the Adam Corporation," explained Mr. Rukawa, and sighing to himself, he muttered, "Old money..."  
  
"How did you meet mother?"  
  
"I was at the Rukawa Ltd, doing negotiations and business with Adam Corp. I hadn't inherited the company yet, then, that time, I was already divorced from your stepmother, Taka's mother. I fell in love on the spot with your mother, who's representing Adam Corp. It was a very sweet love, we eventually got married, and then have you and Len, but..."  
  
"Grandfather ordered mother to divorce you?"  
  
"Yes, he found out about my past marriage, you see, and he ordered me to 'get the hell out of New York' that's what he said, as Len is older, by a minute, and he need a male heir, he took Len, leaving you with me, I knew your mother didn't want that, but he threatened to disown her, and as an obedient child, she agreed with the whole thing,"  
  
"Your grandfather, the chairman of Rukawa Ltd. of that time, found out about this, and seeing that Adam Corp. will probably destroy our company, he wisely moved it to Boston, and up till now, our base in US is in Boston, and made one of your great-uncle to take my place, and ordered me to get home to Japan, as soon as possible, and until now, the Rukawa Ltd. in U.S. has been controlled by your great-uncle's side of the family,"  
  
"I was tempted to send you to Taka's mother, but I changed my mind, instead, I employed nannies for you, and I'm sorry if I didn't give a lot of time for you, since your grandfather died, I was made the chairman,"  
  
"I know, father, I understand everything now, I'm no longer the 10-year old kid that aniki met when he was 14,"  
  
"Taka sure did a lot of maturing in you, I must thank him for that,"   
****  
Shohoku High - basketball practice...  
For once, the ace played badly that day.  
  
"Oi, Kaede? What's the problem? You are playing like an amateur all day!" Hana scolded.   
  
Despite their recent break-up months ago, Kaede and Hana became good friends just after the latter got back from the States. Kaede had tried changing the course of their relationship from friends to more than that, but Hana doesn't want that just yet. The others concluded that she still missed the guy who helped her a lot in the States.  
  
"Ok, rest," Miyagi commanded.   
  
Hana immediately went to the bench and listen to 'Make A Wish' by Vic Zhou, the album that Len bought her a few months ago. Len didn't email her these past few months, and she had resorted to listen to the cd everytime she missed him.  
  
Kaede watched as she listen to the sad Mandarin song, he doesn't know how she can sing along to the song, when she doesn't even know how to speak Mandarin.  
  
"So, what's your problem?" she asked.  
  
"My brother, of whom I've never met, is returning to Japan from US," Kaede answered.  
  
"Oh, are you excited?" asked Hana again.  
  
"A little bit, but it feels rather awkward, I've never even met him, thank god father explained everything about him already,"  
  
"You only meet Taka-kun after he moved away from Hokkaido, what's the difference?" Hana asked.  
  
"Aniki is older than me, but this guy, he has a chinese name, I don't remember, is my twin," Kaede answered.  
  
"I rest my case, Kaede, I've no idea," Hana replied him. "I want to practice some lay-ups,"  
*****  
New York...  
3.00 p.m.  
Len packed his trophies first. His clothes came next, his flight is at 8.00 p.m., New York time. By the time all his stuffs are packed and the house is bare, (all other stuffs that belonged to his mother went to her personal vault in the bank), he took his slingbag and placed the framed photograph of a smiling Hana inside.   
  
He had already said goodbye to all his teammates and teachers at his farewell party yesterday. Everybody wished that he meet Hana again. Although he himself wished it, he knew it's hard, because, according to Hana, Kanagawa is big.  
  
"Make a wish..." he hummed as he went out the apartment towards his car.   
***  
At the airport...  
"Thank you for seeing me off," Len told all of them. "I will never forget all of you,"  
  
"Here's a present to you, it's from all of us," said Billie, handing over a framed copy of Black and Gold, Kennedy's newsletter. "The article about you and Hana, your first gossip,"  
  
"Thanks" Len said.  
  
"Bye Len! Be sure to say hi to Hana to all of us if you see her," Honey said. "I'm sure you'll meet her again,"  
  
Len nodded to Honey, and then entered the customs and immigration.  
*****  
Japan...  
Len arrived in Tokyo at around midday.   
  
"Rukawa-san, welcome to Japan," said a middle-aged man, who ushered him to a VIP room at the airport. "Your father and brothers are waiting for you,"  
  
"Konnichiwa, Len, I'm your father, Rukawa Ren, while these are your brothers, your twin, Kaede, and your half brother, Taka," said a middle aged man.  
  
"Konnichiwa," Len replied. He looked at his father and brothers. Kaede reminded him of somebody, aside from himself. He suddenly remembered that Kaede looks just like a photograph of Hana's ex-boyfriend that he had saw months ago.  
  
"Well, it's time for us to return home to Kanagawa," said Mr. Rukawa.   
  
"The car is outside, Rukawa-san," said the middle aged man that ushered Len in. Mr. Rukawa nodded.  
  
"I assume that you'll be going to Shohoku," started Kaede. "I guess I'll call you Len, if its ok with you,"  
  
Len nodded. "I don't mind, just don't call me aniki, we don't know each other that well,"   
  
Kaede replied, "I thought the same thing as well,"  
  
"You can call me Taka-kun, Len-kun, if you don't wish to call me aniki as well," Taka piped.  
  
Len nodded.  
  
"Do you play basketball?" asked Kaede.  
  
Len merely nodded.  
******  
The Rukawa home...  
Len didn't expect his father to be *this* wealthy. No wonder his mother only left him 1/2 of her money. She wanted his father to finance him.  
  
"Father had installed an indoor basketball court when Kaede couldn't use the public courts. But even then, he doesn't really use it that much," Taka said.  
  
"Aniki, I prefer practicing with Hana," Kaede answered.   
  
Len startled when he heard the name 'Hana'. 'Maybe it's just coincidence that they share the same name,' he thought.  
****  
Len's room...  
"Well, here's your room, enjoy your stay with us, and be sure to wake up for dinner. I know you are suffering from jet lag," Mr. Rukawa said to him. "New York and this part of Japan are 14 hours apart,"  
  
Len didn't go to sleep, first he unpacked his stuffs, placed all the trophies at the glass cabinet, and placed Hana's framed photograph at the nightstand. And then, he goes to sleep.  
  
"I wonder if I'm going to meet you," he said to Hana's smiling face.  
  
End of Chapter 1 - pls read and review. 


	2. chapter 2

A Love Within Three Hearts  
Thank you to all the reviewers.  
Disclaimer: Slam Dunk, and its original characters do not belong to me. It belongs to Inoue Takehiko. All the unoriginal characters in this fic are mine, though. What If?, A Fling and A Love Within Three Hearts is a trilogy. If you haven't read the other two stories, read those first.  
Summary: Hana got back from the States already. Len also too. Set during Hana and Kaede's second year.  
A/n: Kaede and Taka wants their other brother, Len to fit in. So, expect OOC in Kaede's case. I do hope I got the legal age to drive correct in this chapter.  
Chapter 2  
Sunday Morning...  
"My car should arrive soon, can I use it to drive to school?" Len asked the next morning.  
  
"Len, you are only 17. It's only legal for Japanese to drive at 18," Mr. Rukawa answered. "You have to cycle to school, like Kaede here,"  
  
"So, I expect the beemer will be collecting dust, eh?" Len asked sarcastically. "But I thought Taka drives,"  
  
"Len, I'm 21 years old, what do you expect?" Taka asked, smiling.  
  
Kaede finished eating in record time.   
  
"Kaede, where are you going?"  
  
"One-on-one with Sendoh," he replied. "Hana promised to cheer me up,"  
******  
School...  
Monday Morning  
Len cycled to school with Kaede. Both didn't talk much. Kaede just showed him the way to Shohoku, Len watched the scenery along the way.   
  
"Oh well, here's Shohoku," Kaede said after they entered the school compound.  
  
"Rukawa! Rukawa! Love me! Love me! Rukawa!" shouted some girls.   
  
Kaede immediately went to park his bicycle and rushed off to class. Along the way he saw the Sakuragi Gundam.  
  
"Oi, Yohei, where's Hana?" he asked.  
  
"She went to the InterSchool English Competition," Yohei answered. "Rukawa, am I seeing double?"  
  
Kaede shook his head. "This is my twin brother,"  
  
"Rukawa Len Xiao Tian Adam, call me Len,"  
  
"Mito Youhei, call me Mito," Youhei replied.  
  
Len nodded.  
*****  
In class...  
It sounds so quiet. Len entered the class when it's maths. He had just given his form of entry to the principal, and shown around the school by somebody he didn't know.  
  
"Ohayo, I'm the new student," he greeted the sensei.  
  
"Ohayo, tell us your name, and you may sit wherever you like," the sensei answered.  
  
"Ohayo, minna, ore wa Rukawa Len Xiao Tian Adam, please call me Len," Len introduced himself.  
  
"You look just like Rukawa Kaede, are you siblings?" asked somebody from the back. Len nodded.  
  
There are two empty seat, one in front of his brother, while the other, next to his brother. Len went to sit at the front.  
  
"That's Sakuragi's seat, if I were you, I wouldn't sit there!" somebody said. After hearing that, Len went to sit next to Kaede.  
  
"What is it about Sakuragi?"  
  
"She has a fiery temper," Kaede answered.  
  
After maths, then biology, after that, chemistry and after that, physics. Len watched and learned as all the teachers use Japanese to teach (duh!). Len adapted himself to the new surroundings, as it is very different from Kennedy High.  
  
Just before the end of the school day, an announcement was made via the P.A. system.  
  
"Sorry for this interruption, minna! Sakuragi Hana had just won the InterSchool English Competition after narrowly beating Kainan High!" squealed the person making the announcement. "Congratulations to Sakuragi-san!"  
  
"Kaede, who's Sakuragi?" asked Len.  
  
"She sits at the place you originally wanted to sit on just now,"  
  
"She must be very good in English,"  
  
"Hana spent a month in the States, Len," Youhei interrupted.  
  
"Really? I wonder which part, coz there's this girl from Japan entered my school. Her name is Hana Sakuragi," Len said.  
  
"What club are you going to join, Len?"  
  
"Basketball," Len answered.  
*****  
Basketball practice...  
"Minna, we have a new member today," announced Anzai-sensei.  
  
"Konnichiwa, ore wa Rukawa Len Xiao Tian Adam, yoroshiku," Len introduced himself.  
  
"Any relationship with Rukawa?"  
  
"Brother,"  
  
"Miyagi-sempai, is Sakuragi-sempai coming to the practice?" asked a first year, Mikage Yuhi, who's face somewhat looks similar to his namesake in Ayashino Ceres.  
  
"Did somebody call my name?" shouted a girl.   
  
"Sakuragi-san!" shouted a freshman.  
  
"C'mon, Mikage, do you think I'd miss a day of practice?" the girl asked.  
  
"Of course not, Sakuragi-san," the freshman answered.  
  
"Oi baka! Come over here for a moment, there's a new member," shouted Miyagi.  
  
"Sure, sure, shorty," she mocked and jogged lightly towards Miyagi.  
  
"Hana, this is our new member, Rukawa Len Xiao Tian Adam," Miyagi introduced. "Oi, Hana!"  
  
"Aah, sorry, Ryocchin, Kaede made a mistake just now," Hana answered. "He traveled,"  
  
"I did not," Kaede answered monotonely.  
  
"Kitsune, you just did," she replied.   
  
Len watched the redheaded girl torment his own brother. She reminded him a lot of Hana, physically.  
  
"As I was saying, Hana!" Ryota shouted.  
  
"Watashi wa Sakuragi Hana, yoroshiku," Hana said to the guy who stared at his shoes.  
  
"Ore wa Rukawa Len Xiao Tian Adam, yoroshiku" he answered and eyed Hana.  
  
Hana immediately recognised him as R.Len, but she didn't want to open up the issue.  
  
Len, however, thought, 'I wonder if she is Hana, but the behaviour is so different! Her hair is longer too,'  
  
"Are you related to the kitsune?" asked Hana.  
  
"Kitsune?" Len asked.  
  
"Oi, do'aho, he's my twin brother," Kaede answered.  
  
"Do'aho?" Len asked. If he's not mistaken, Do'aho means stupid, and kitsune means fox.  
  
"Both of them has 'special' nicknames for each other, Hana called Rukawa, 'kitsune' and Rukawa returned the favour by calling her 'do'aho'," Miyagi explained.   
  
"I wonder when they will reconcile, they look so cute together," Haruko sighed.  
  
"Reconcile?" asked Len.  
  
"They used to have a deep and intense relationship, end of story," Miyagi explained again.  
  
"The first years in team A, the second years and third years in team B," Miyagi shouted.   
  
Neither Len nor Hana entered the game first.  
  
"Why aren't you playing?" he asked her.  
  
"Ryota is a point guard, and you know as well as I do that there should only be one point guard in a game," Hana replied lightly.  
  
"You play point guard?" Len asked. 'They even play the same position!'  
  
"Hai, from your height, I'd guess you either play small forward or power forward," she answered.  
  
"How'd you know?" he asked.  
  
"I just guessed," she lied.  
  
"Ryocchin! Take a rest! Or you'll trouble your leg!" she shouted.  
  
"I'm going to, you baka!" Miyagi shouted. True to his words, Hana entered the court 5 minutes after that.  
  
"I broke my leg a few months ago," Miyagi explained.  
  
"But why are you playing?"  
  
"The doctor said it's ok, if I just play for 5-10 minutes," Miyagi explained. "Watch Hana play, she's very good,"  
  
"Kaede!" she shouted, and passed to Rukawa, who made a jump shot.  
  
"Good pass, Hana!" shouted Miyagi.  
  
Sakuragi! Sakuragi! Love me Love me! Sakuragi," shouted some male cheerleaders.  
  
"Sakuragi's own cheerleading squad," Miyagi explained.  
  
"Rukawa! Rukawa! Love me Love me! Rukawa!" shouted some female cheerleaders.  
  
"Rukawa's own cheerleading squad," Miyagi explained.   
  
"They got them?"  
  
"The people volunteered for it, both Rukawa Kaede and Hana don't want em," Miyagi answered.  
*****  
Practice ended around 9.00 p.m.  
  
"End of practice! Three weeks later, we'll be having a practice game with Ryonan High," Miyagi announced. "Work hard minna, even though Uozumi's missing,"  
****  
"Is Ryonan good?" asked Len.  
  
"Hai, they lost against us last year though," Hana answered. "Sendoh's good, he's the Ryonan Ace,"  
  
"Who's Uozumi?" Len asked.  
  
"He's one of the ex-players of Ryonan, he's about two metres tall, and Akagi, our ex-captain defeated him," Hana answered.   
  
"Here's my house, see both of you tomorrow," Hana said after they arrived at her front gates.  
"Konbanwa!"  
  
"Konbanwa!" both chorused.  
*****  
"Hey, why this blue?" asked Ryuen.  
  
"I met Len at school and he didn't recognise me," Hana answered.  
  
"Really?"  
  
Hana nodded.  
  
End of chapter 2 - please read and review 


	3. chapter 3

A Love Within Three Hearts  
Thank you to all those that reviewed chapter 2. Here's chapter 3!!! Enjoy reading!!!!  
  
Disclaimer: Slam Dunk, and its original characters do not belong to me. It belongs to Inoue Takehiko. All the unoriginal characters in this fic are mine, though. What If?, A Fling and A Love Within Three Hearts is a trilogy. If you haven't read the other two stories, read those first.  
Summary: Hana got back from the States already. Len also too. Set during Hana and Kaede's second year.  
A/n: Kaede and Taka wants their other brother, Len to fit in. So, expect OOC in Kaede's case.   
  
Chapter 3  
Len listened to the cd just before he go down and have breakfast with his 'family'.  
  
'Sakuragi Hana and Hana Sakuragi has the same face, the same height, the same fiery hair, the same position,' Len thought. 'They could be the same person, but their attitude are so different from each other,'  
  
"Make a wish... make a wish..." he sang, and went on singing the chinese part of it, and entered the dining room.  
  
"I bet your mother made you learn Mandarin," Rukawa-san stated.  
  
"Mandarin, Cantonese, and Japanese, Otoosan," Len replied.  
  
"You know how to speak Mandarin?" Kaede asked. Len nodded.  
  
"Interested, Kaede?" asked Rukawa-san.  
  
"No, but Hana's crazy about F4 nowadays," Kaede answered.  
  
"You are still trying to win her back, eh?" asked Taka. Kaede just nodded.  
  
"She always humms the Vic Zhou song ever since she got back from the States," Kaede replied.   
  
"Vic Zhou, as in 'Make a wish'?" asked Len.  
  
Kaede nodded.   
  
'It's the same song that Hana and I love to sing,' he thought.  
  
Len's still clueless whether Hana, is Hana. Hana's loudness contrasted with the somewhat silent Hana he knew at the States. The style of playing is the same though.  
*****  
"Ryuen-nii-chan, that guy is sooooo stupid! I couldn't believe he didn't recognise me!" Hana complained to Ryuen.  
  
"Not suprising. You were so out of character when you are at the States. The only time that you got back to 'normal' is when you are with me, and Eiji, and no one else," Ryuen replied.  
  
"Why'd I want to show that I'm a loud girl in front of all those strangers, eh, Ryu-nii-chan?" asked Hana.  
*****  
'Watashi wa Sakuragi Hana, yoroshiku,' Len thought. 'Hana said that to me a few months ago, and somebody named Hana said that to me as well,'  
  
"Are we going to pick up Hana like yesterday?" asked Len.   
  
Kaede shook his head. "Her onii-chan volunteered to drive her to school," he answered.  
  
"Onii-chan?"   
  
"Uhuh, she has two brothers, who happened to be twins," Kaede answered. "Interested at her? Len?"  
  
"Uh no, you like her already," Len replied.  
***  
At Shohoku...  
"There she is," Kaede said.  
  
"Thank you for bringing me to school, Ryuen-nii-chan, Kei-nii-chan," they heard Hana say.  
  
"Ryu!" shouted Len towards Ryuen.  
  
"Hey Len, what are you doing here?" Ryuen said.  
  
"Mother died, and she made me live with my father," Len answered.  
  
"I'm sorry, I didn't hear Ms. Adam die," Ryuen said sympathetically. "This is my twin, Keisuke, and you know my sister,"  
  
"Hana!" he said. "I knew it's you!"  
  
"Du-uh!" Hana answered. "Finally remembered me, eh?"  
  
"N-no, it's just that, your behaviour is so different," Len admitted. "The Hana I knew never shout around,"  
  
"It's ok, Len, c'mon, Kaede, let's get to class!" Hana shouted. "Bye bye, onii-chans,"  
  
"Bye!" both chorused.  
*****  
Break time...  
Instead of going to the cafeteria. Hana asked Len to go to the rooftop with her, to talk about some matters.  
  
"Actually, Len, it's not ok," Hana muttered softly.  
  
"I'm sorry that I didn't tell you that I recognise you first," Len said. "But.."  
  
"I'm so different, am I?" asked Hana. Len nodded.  
  
"I still have the same red shade of hair, only longer, the same height, only taller by a 2 centimetres, the same face, the same..." Hana trailed on.  
  
"But different behaviours. The Hana I knew back at the States is quiet, and listen attentively to the teacher. The Hana here..."  
  
"is very loud, and cut classes," Hana supplied. Len nodded. "What do you expect? Len? I'm in a very different country with different surroundings. I have to adapt to some changes, like you now, you are acting just like Kaede when I first met him,"  
  
"Is Kaede, I mean, my brother, your boyfriend?" Len asked.  
  
"He used to be. He's the very same guy that I showed the picture to you months ago. Both of you look so much alike that I'm having trouble to know which one do I really love,"  
  
"Do you still love me?" asked Len. Hana nodded.  
  
"It does wear down a bit though, but I still love you," Hana admitted. But upon seeing Len's bright face, "But... I love Kaede as well,"  
  
"Which one of us do you want, Hana? Me or Kaede?" Len asked.  
  
"Give me time, please,"  
  
Len nodded.  
  
"And, do not tell anyone that we used to date. Haruko knew about it, but I doubt that she'll tell anyone else," Hana explained. "In the meantime, let's act as good friends,"  
********  
Basketball practice...  
There's no doubt that the team is going fairly well. They are practicing shootings that day to prepare themselves for the game against Ryonan. Ryonan's coming over to Shohoku.  
  
Hana practiced her three pointers. With the absence of Mitsui and Kogure, only Hana, Kaede and only one first year, Mikage knows how to do three pointers, and sometimes, it doesn't enter the basket. Some of their shooting guards did not know how to do it, and Hana's going to teach them when she has the chance.  
  
"Tensai! Tensai! Sakuragi! Tensai! Tensai! Sakuragi!" shouted the Sakuragi shinetais.  
  
"Love Me! Love Me! Rukawa! Love me! Rukawa!" shouted the Rukawa shinetais.  
  
"Oi! Hana! Take a break!" shouted Miyagi.  
  
"It's ok, Ryocchin, there's only two left to go," Hana shouted back. "299! 300! Yes! 300 shots!"  
  
"300 shots, eh? Trying to be like Jin, are you, Hana?" asked Mitsui, who entered the court.  
  
"Mitcchy! What are you doing in Shohoku?" asked Hana. "And no, I'm not trying to be like Jin, unlike him, I do 600 shots a day,"  
  
"Hmm, I got a day off at the Uni today, and I decided to give you all a visit, Hana, your hair is longer!" Mitsui answered. "but I see that you are shorter!"  
  
"Darn you, Mitcchy, I'm NOT getting shorter, I'm taller by 2 cm, you, you scarface!" Hana outraged.  
  
"Who's he?" Len asked one of the first years.  
  
"He's Mitsui Hisashi, Shohoku's ex-shooting guard, he's very good," answered the first year.  
  
"Mitsui, let me introduce to you, Len," Miyagi said.  
  
"Hey, you look just like Rukawa," Mitsui stated.  
  
"I am Rukawa, Rukawa Len Xiao Tian Adam, call me Len," Len introduced himself.  
  
"Mitsui Hisashi," Mitsui replied.  
  
"Mitcchy! Let's have a one-on-one," shouted Hana.   
  
"No, I'm tired, and I want to watch all of you play," Mitsui said.  
*******  
While everyone else is playing or doing some basics, Len sat watching Hana play. Mitsui watched him and strode off to sit next to the pale boy.  
  
"You like her, don't you?" Mitsui whispered.  
  
"How do you know?" Len whispered back.  
  
"You are watching her just like the way Rukawa always does, when they were together," Mitsui whispered. "Unlike Rukawa, your face is like an open book, I could see that you like Hana,"  
  
"Does that mean the whole team knows I like her?" Len asked, remembering Hana saying that they should act as good friends.  
  
"Nope," Mitsui smiled. "I don't know why, but I can sense you liking her,"  
  
"Kaede likes her too,"   
  
"Is it because of that, that you don't show your feelings?"  
  
"She knows I like her,"   
  
"Aaah, Miyagi's problem," Mitsui said.  
  
"Miyagi? As in captain?"  
  
Mitsui nodded. "Miyagi loves Ayako, and Ayako knows about it, she just doesn't return his feelings,"  
  
"Just one thing, Len, get it out of your system, tell her you like her, show her, I know she likes you too,"  
  
"I know that as well,"  
  
"I don't really want you to do this, but, when it comes to love, you've to gamble with consequences,"  
  
Len nodded. And gambling is what he's going to do, if it's the way to win Hana's affections.  
  
End of chapter 3 


	4. chapter 4

A Love Within Three Hearts  
  
Disclaimer: Slam Dunk, and its original characters do not belong to me. It belongs to Inoue Takehiko. All the unoriginal characters in this fic are mine, though. What If?, A Fling and A Love Within Three Hearts is a trilogy. If you haven't read the other two stories, read those first.  
Summary: Hana got back from the States already. Len also too. Set during Hana and Kaede's second year.  
A/n: Kaede and Taka wants their other brother, Len to fit in. So, expect OOC in Kaede's case.   
  
Chapter 4  
There's no doubt that Len tried very hard to suppress his feelings as Kaede kept on being at Hana's side. Miyagi always make them become partners, and even if Miyagi didn't do it, both of them pulled to each other, this makes Len jealous, even though Hana played better if Kaede's her partner.  
  
"Kaede!" she shouted, and passed the ball to Kaede, and Kaede passed back to her, "Hana!"  
  
They were practicing passes to further accentuate their talents for the coming of Ryonan. Hana, for one, couldn't wait for Ryonan to come, since she had always wanted to play against Sendoh again. For Rukawa, this is another moment to defeat Sendoh.  
  
"Ok, team, practice shooting!" shouted Miyagi an hour later. They are going to practice till night, and what Miyagi wanted the team to improve in their offence skill.  
  
At the end of practice...  
"The practice match with Ryonan will start at 9 a.m. next Saturday, and Hana, please don't be late," Miyagi said.  
  
"I won't be late, Ryocchin, I couldn't wait to play against Akira again," Hana answered.  
  
"You always play one-on-one against Sendoh," Rukawa stated.  
  
"That, is one-on-one, this is team-playing," Hana defended herself. "And besides, I always lose at the one-on-one,"  
  
"I've never seen how this Sendoh look like," Len voiced out.  
  
"He got a spiky hairstyle, and a pale complexion, but you are paler," Miyagi answered. "And he's quite tall as well, but play as the point guard,"  
  
"Konbanwa everyone!" shouted a cheery voice.  
  
"Speak of the devil," muttered Miyagi, and turned towards the owner of the voice. Sendoh himself.  
  
"Konbanwa, what brings you here?" asked Hana. "There's nothing for you to spy on, Akira, we finished practice,"  
  
"C'mon, Hana, why'd I want to spy Shohoku practicing, when I have you to spy on every Sunday morning," Sendoh answered. "I'm just passing by to tell you and Rukawa that I couldn't come to play our usual one-on-one, on Sunday, because I've to go to Osaka for a while,"  
  
"Couldn't you just call me to tell that, Akira?" asked Hana.   
  
"No," Sendoh smiled cheekily. "My mother's already complaining bout the phone bill, well, I'd better be going to catch the train, Ja!"  
  
"Ja!" Hana said after that, and Sendoh ran towards the school gates.  
  
"Both of you are pretty cozy," Miyagi teased although he knew Hana and Sendoh are like best friends. According to them, a relationship just wouldn't happen to them because they were waaay too similar, and according to Hana, his kisses to her are cold.  
  
"C'mon, Ryocchin, he's just cancelling our regular one-on-ones this Sunday, the poor boy's dragged by his mom to Osaka," Hana explained.   
  
Len felt jealous, Hana even called Sendoh by his first name. His emotions showed in his eyes. Kaede watched as his twin watched Hana jealously.   
  
"Do you like Hana?" Kaede asked. Len denied it by shooking his head.  
  
"Good, because you know I do," Kaede answered him.   
******  
"Hana, can we, err, talk?" asked Len. Lately, it's been hard to talk to Hana since Kaede are in the same classes as them, except Advanced Calculus, where Len and Hana had to go to another class, where they are the only two taking the subject. Akagi and Kogure used to be the only two student in their second and third year to study Advanced Calculus, and Ayako is the only student brave enough to follow their footsteps, and now, Hana and Len, Hana had joined the class with Ayako last year, when her math teacher found out about her mathematics side of the brain.  
  
Currently, their advanced calculus teacher is on leave, and left them a pile of homeworks to be done in class and at home.   
  
"Later? I just couldn't seem to understand how to get the shaded area under the curve," Hana answered.   
  
"What problems are you working on?" Len asked.  
  
"I told you, I don't know how to work on these," Hana answered, showing Len the questions.   
  
"Hmm, this is quite easy, use integration with limits, find the area under the curve, and then find the area under the straight line, and then, minus them, find the equation of the straight line first, though," Len explained. Hana nodded.  
  
"The answer's still not right!" Hana complained. Len looked at it again, and replied, "Change the limits,"  
  
Hana nodded. They were seated close, closer than what they say 'normal' friends should. As they are doing their work, somebody, a girl, probably a second year like them as well, watched as they do their work, and put their heads together, and jumped into a conclusion.  
********  
The next day...  
Lunchtime  
"Come and buy our first copy of Students' Gazette!" shouted the girl only known as Miori. "We've added a gossips' section!"  
  
Hearing that, everyone rushed to the table, and bought a copy.   
  
"A gossip section? Sound like the Black and Gold," Hana said, reminded of Kennedy's own student-based paper, Black and Gold.  
  
"Yeah," Len answered, remembering the first time Black and Gold had recorded his first ever gossip with a girl, Hana. How they got the information, he didn't know.  
  
"Hey, look at this, a popular female student, Ms.H is seen sitting to closely for comfort with a newly arrived popular male student, Mr.L, in an empty class, how will this affect Mr.K, who seemed to not want Ms.H from leaving him? Mr.K kept on being Ms.H's partner in her plays, will they get together, or will Mr.L take the place of Mr.K?," Yohei read.  
  
"Ms. H? Mr.L? Mr.K?" Takamiya asked. "Why does they sound familiar?"  
  
"It's just gossips, Takamiya, don't bother much about it," Hana chided, knowing full well that Ms.H is herself, Mr.K is Kaede, while Mr.L is Len. They just fabricated it by saying 'plays' instead of 'games' or 'basketball'.  
******  
As promised, Hana and Len talked at the roof.  
  
"I still love you, I couldn't stand looking at how you treat Kaede like a boyfriend, and me, like a friend, and why do you insists calling every male person you know with their first name?" Len asked.  
  
"Len, first of all, I do love you, but I love Kaede too, I didn't treat Kaede like a boyfriend, I treat him like a best friend, and the reason why I called every male person I know with their first names was, they are all like brothers to me. Akira, I mean Sendoh, was once there when I needed him, he loves me, but we just couldn't be together because our kisses were cold, and we found out that we were waaaaaaay too similar, and Akira couldn't stop giving other girls attention as well, and at that time, there's passion with Kaede. And Captain Miyagi shared with me his secrets of love, helped me when I need help," Hana answered.  
  
"You couldn't be possesive, Len, I don't know yet what I want, I didn't mean to hurt both you and kaede," Hana continued.  
  
"Let's kiss to see if you really still love me," Len suggested. Hana nodded. At the moment when their lips met, somebody entered the roof to sleep, and saw them kissing.  
  
"ADAM!" shouted the person. Len turned and saw Kaede, his eyes glittering with anger.   
  
"Kaede," Hana gasped after she ended the kiss abruptly.  
  
End of chapter 4 - please read and review.   
A/N:Cheeky of me to leave a cliffie, eh? hehehe, anywayz, just read and review.... 


	5. chapter 5

A Love Within Three Hearts  
  
Disclaimer: Slam Dunk, and its original characters do not belong to me. It belongs to Inoue Takehiko. All the unoriginal characters in this fic are mine, though. What If?, A Fling and A Love Within Three Hearts is a trilogy. If you haven't read the other two stories, read those first.  
Summary: Hana got back from the States already. Len also too. Set during Hana and Kaede's second year.  
A/n: Kaede and Taka wants their other brother, Len to fit in. So, expect OOC in Kaede's case.   
  
Chapter 5  
"I.want.an.explanation," Kaede monotonely said.   
  
"He's the guy that I went out with, the one I told you about, Kaede," Hana explained.  
  
One sentence, just one sentence, makes a whole lot difference. Kaede watched Len's face in hatred, knowing full well now, that, Len is the guy who managed to pick up the broken pieces of Hana's heart, and mended it.  
  
"He, is the third party, eh?" asked Len.  
  
"No, Len, *you* are the third party," Kaede hotly explained. "Hana and I went out for almost a year when I dumped her for basketball,"  
  
"If you dumped her in the first place, why do you want her back now?" asked Len hotly.  
  
"I've wanted to go back with her since she's still in the States, but I've no idea how to contact her, I still love her, that's why I want her back," Kaede answered.  
  
"I love her as well, she was heartbroken when we went out," Len replied. "I mended the pieces of her heart,"  
  
"WHY ARE BOTH OF YOU TALKING LIKE I AM NOT HERE?" Hana shouted, and stormed off from the roof.  
  
Both Kaede and Len are giving each other hatred looks before both rushed off to find Hana.   
******  
Hana walked alone, around the school, not going to any direction. She knew, she'll be scolded and lectured for missing classes, but who cares, she's annoyed now. Two of the men she loves are fighting for her, and not treating her like a person.  
  
"Ah! Chikuso!" Hana muttered.  
  
"Sakuragi Hana, what are you doing at the labs?" asked the Chemistry sensei.  
  
"Ah, I was just passing by, sir," Hana answered the teacher.   
  
The teacher nodded, not knowing if he should believe it or not. "Get to your class,"  
  
"Hai!"  
*******  
"I couldn't find her," Kaede monotonely said, after meeting up back with Len.  
  
"Me neither," Len answered. "Let's go back to class, the teacher must have been mad at us,"  
  
"Who cares what the stupid sensei thinks?" asked Kaede.  
  
"I do, right now is Oral English, he's the sensei who always make you fail, would you like to be benched by Miyagi-sempai?" asked Len.  
  
"Shorty will never bench me, ok, let's return," Kaede answered.  
******  
While the twins decide to return to class, Hana was in class, reading a passage that was given out by the English sensei.  
  
"Sakuragi, read lines 10 till 17," the sensei instructed, in English.  
  
Hana nodded, and stood up. "Minerva sat silently as she read the note that was passed a minute ago. Lucy and Damien watched her in concern for their father, Dr. Kirk, had summoned her to their estate,"   
  
Hana stopped when someone knocked the door.  
  
"Come in," the sensei said.  
  
"Sorry for being late, sensei, I lost my way," Len lied, smiling sweetly at the sensei.  
  
"What about you, Kaede?" asked the sensei. Ever since the twins are placed in the same class, the teachers resorted into calling them by their first names, since both will respond if the teacher calls Rukawa. The Rukawa twins are so identical that they were thankful that Len has purple hair.  
  
"I was looking for Len," he answered in Japanese.  
  
"Get to your seat, you've just interrupted Sakuragi reading," answered the sensei. "And please speak to me in English,"  
  
Len and Kaede turned and saw Hana standing, holding a piece of paper.  
  
"Continue, Sakuragi,"   
  
Hana nodded. "'I don't want to go back there,' Minerva shouted. 'But Minnie, you have to,' Lucy said. 'You know what father will do to me if I go back,' Minerva replied. 'Minnie, he said he was sick,' Damien started. 'That's just a ploy to get me back,' Minerva answered him."   
  
Hana took a breath before continuing, "Meanwhile, at the Kirk household, Mrs. Kirk watched as her husband took another spoon of cough syrup. 'You aren't entirely sick,' she said to her husband. 'I want Minerva to return,' he answered her. 'By the way, had you organised the wedding?' Mrs. Kirk was shocked. 'What wedding? Damien had married Lucy a few years ago,' she answered him. 'Minerva's wedding. I intend to see her wed with Beau Rutherford before I close my eyes,'"  
  
"Stop!" the sensei said. "Thank you, Sakuragi, Rukawa Len, read the next few lines, from lines 18 - 24,"  
  
Len stood up and started reading, with his American accent, "'But isn't that the reason why Minerva ran away?' asked Mrs. Kirk. Angrily, she shouted, 'why do you always have to control her like that?' Dr. Kirk looked aghast. For the first time in his life, his meek, gentle wife is shouting at him. 'The Rutherfords' estates are next to ours, and much larger as well. If Minerva and Beau were to wed, we'll be combining both estates,'"  
  
"Stop!" the sensei instructed, before Len had even finished reading lines 20 till 21. "Rukawa Kaede, lines 21 till 28,"   
  
"Meanwhile, at the Rutherford's estates, 'I absolutely DO NOT want to get married to Minerva, I don't love her,' Beau Rutherford shouted to his parents. 'Beau, you have to, or do you want to be disinherited?' asked Mr. Rutherford quietly. Beau looked shocked. He knew the marriage planned is based on more of economical reason, rather than love. He must see Minerva before tomorrow," Kaede read.  
  
"Good, Mr. Rukawa Kaede, and please improve your accent," the sensei said. "And class, please be reminded that your upcoming test is on next week's Monday. I will give you an oral test as well, so, improve your punctuation and accent, and Rukawa Kaede, if you fail the oral test, I will see that you will be benched in your games,"  
  
Kaede stared open mouthed at the sensei. "Bastard," he muttered.  
  
"And I trust that your brother will help you to do that, since he spent his entire life in the States," said the sensei, not knowing that the twins are at each other's throats due to Hana.  
  
"I will, sensei," promised Len. Kaede's a damn good small forward. Len knew Miyagi couldn't afford to have him benched.  
  
After the sensei went away, and before their mathematics sensei came...  
  
"I know Miyagi couldn't afford to have you benched, but you have to take lessons from me, to pass that oral test," Len said.  
  
"Kaede, you've to pass the test," Hana said.  
  
"I know..."  
********  
The long awaited match against Ryonan.  
  
Taoka sensei greeted Anzai sensei before the game. Sendoh Akira greeted Hana with a friendly hug, which was frowned upon by both Kaede and Len.   
  
Sendoh noticed some new faces, among them, the purple haired guy. "Is it me, or does that guy look just like Rukawa?" asked Sendoh.  
  
"He IS Rukawa. Kaede's brother," Hana answered. Sendoh nodded in understanding.  
  
"Introduce me to him, please, Hana," Sendoh said.   
  
"Sure, sure, Akira. Oi, Len! Come over here!" Hana shouted. Len went over to Hana.  
  
"Len, meet Sendoh Akira. The Ryonan ace that I had always wanted to defeat," Hana introduced.  
  
"Hana, you beated me sometimes," Sendoh said, smiling. "Sendoh Akira,"  
  
"Konnichiwa. Ore Wa Rukawa Len Xiao Tian Adam," Len introduced himself.   
  
"Sibling of Rukawa Kaede?" asked Sendoh.  
  
"Twins,"   
  
"Aah," Sendoh understood now, why they are so identical, except for the hair.  
  
Both coaches motioned their charges to go to their respective teams.  
*****  
At the Shohoku bench area...  
"Hmm, starting members... Rukawa, Len, Miyagi, Touki, and Mikage," said Anzai-sensei. Hana was struck.   
  
"I'll put you in later, Sakuragi," Anzai-sensei continued, as if knowing Hana's need to say something.  
  
"Don't worry, Sakuragi-san," said Mikage Yuhi, one of their freshmen players, whom, Hana herself had taught him how to score three-pointers perfectly. "Touki and I will take the three points for you,"  
  
"Okay," Hana said, actually angry that she's not one of the starting members.  
*****  
At the Ryonan bench area...  
"I don't think Anzai-sensei will be putting Sakuragi in, yet," Taoka-sensei said. "But starting members are... Fukuda, Koshino, Asagari, Yamazaki and Takemoto,"   
  
"You'll enter later, Sendoh," Taoka-sensei said, as if knowing Sendoh wants to enter. "Let's see how the brother of Rukawa plays first,"  
  
Hana shouted. "Go Shohoku!"  
  
The Rukawa Shinetai had doubled in numbers due to Len. They shouted the same chant, except that it's prural now. "Rukawas, Rukawas, love us love us, Rukawas!"  
  
End of Chapter 5  
Please read and review. 


	6. chapter 6

A Love Within Three Hearts  
Thank you to all the reviewers! Here's chapter 6!  
  
Disclaimer: Slam Dunk, and its original characters do not belong to me. It belongs to Inoue Takehiko. All the unoriginal characters in this fic are mine, though. What If?, A Fling and A Love Within Three Hearts is a trilogy. If you haven't read the other two stories, read those first.  
Summary: Hana got back from the States already. Len also too. Set during Hana and Kaede's second year.  
A/n: Kaede and Taka wants their other brother, Len to fit in. So, expect OOC in Kaede's case.  
  
Chapter 6  
"Darn it, Sendoh's not entering yet," Kaede muttered.  
  
"Eh?" Len asked, surprised.  
  
"He's your brother's rival on and off the court," Miyagi explained. Len nodded, he knew how that feels.  
  
The game starts soon after that, Shohoku making the first offence. As like last year, both Shohoku and Ryonan are even. Shohoku had their first three points when Yuhi unexpectedly shoots a three pointer, startling Fukuda, who's guarding him. Ryonan didn't want to be left behind, Fukuda got his revenge by getting two points for Ryonan, but Shohoku's still leading by a point.   
  
At the bench area, Sendoh watched as the Rukawa brothers played with *and* against each other. At some times, they were rivals, but at other times, they played a combination play that Sendoh had never thought Rukawa Kaede could do with someone else aside from Hana. Taoka -sensei finally put in Sendoh after he knew that nobody could challenge the Rukawa brothers on court. But, Anzai-sensei has a trick up his sleeve, Sendoh's too tall for Miyagi to guard, and so, Hana went on the court as well.  
  
Imagine the surprise on Taoka-sensei's face, when the Rukawa twins and Hana formed a triple combination play. Hana would pass to either of them, and they would do the finishing job. Taoka-sensei frowned, 'the purple haired Rukawa plays like one of the boys at the NBA High School basketball tournament,' he thought. Taoka-sensei obviously had watched some games that Len had played in.  
  
Hana's dribbling the ball, Len, as usual, had gotten all the rebounds, and they are now going to attack. Sendoh guarded her tightly, but, she managed to elude Sendoh and passed the ball to Len, who again, passed to Kaede, but Kaede met the tight guard of Asagari, and so passed back to Len, who made a jump shot. Shohoku is leading 25-23.   
  
Sendoh got his chance to even the score when he eluded Hana's guard, but Hana got her revenge by shooting a three pointer, she was accidentaly pushed down while making the shot, but the ball went in.  
  
"Basket count! One throw!" shouted the referee. Sendoh was devastated, he couldn't believe he had just given four points to Hana. Hana's free throw went in smoothly, Shohoku's now leading 29-25.   
  
But, in the end, Shohoku won by two points only. Sendoh congratulates Hana for the obvious improvement in her plays.   
  
"Well, that's all thanks to Len here, he coached me when I'm at the States," Hana said.  
  
"Aah, you are the 'Len' that Hana talked to me about," Sendoh said, understood now. Sendoh knew that Kaede wants Hana back.   
  
"Good play, Rukawa," Sendoh said to Kaede. "You too, Len,"  
  
Kaede nodded, but Len replied, "Yup, I look forward in playing against you in the Inter High,"  
  
"Same here," Sendoh nodded.  
******  
Len was listening to his Dry Cell cd when somebody knocked on his door.  
  
"I don't understand this world that we are living in, people give you things so they can take it back again, I don't wanna be, part of history, I just want my life to be the way that it should be," Len sang as he opened the door. Funnily, it's Kaede.  
  
"Hello, what do you want?"  
  
"Tutoring," Kaede answered monotonely.  
  
"C'mon in,"  
  
The first thing that Kaede noticed is the framed photograph of a smiling Hana. Her hair is shorter then, and she had this really beautiful smile that lifts up Kaede morose mood.  
  
"She's beautiful, isn't she?" asked Len, when he noticed Kaede looking at Hana's photo. Kaede nodded.  
  
"Okay, let's start, I've taken some of my books for you to read, and I'll say stop when your pronounciation is wrong,"  
  
Kaede nodded.  
  
"Here, start with this," Len said, handing one of his Harry Potter books to Kaede, and opened pages 143.  
  
The lesson goes on very well, with Len correcting a few of Kaede's mistakes.   
  
"Well, I'll guess you'll pass, you've got a good brain inside that skull of yours," Len said, after 35 minutes.  
  
"Len, let's go to my room, I need to show you something," Kaede whispered. Len nodded curtly.  
*****  
Kaede's room was large, as Len observed. One whole area was devoted entirely of basketball. There was pictures of Michael Jordan, and every other basketball legends. Cabinets full of basketball trophies lined a wall, but what takes most space is the photograph of the Shohoku team, when they beated Sannoh. And there's a framed poster-size photograph of Kaede and Hana, looking into each other's eyes.  
  
"That was when we beated Sannoh," Kaede said after he saw Len looking both pictures. "You know the others, we were the Shohoku Five then, I mean Six, Kogure-sempai always entered when Hana's injured, the Gorilla-like face is Akagi, the bespectacled boy is Kogure, and you know Mitsui-sempai,"  
  
Len noticed that Hana wrapped her hands around Kaede, and smiled for the camera. "She was injured when this photo was taken, she sprained her ankle when she helped me to guard Sawakita Eiji, the then Sannoh ace,"  
  
"Is it the same Sawakita Eiji who went to the States?" Len asked, only to be answered with a curt nod.  
  
Both were silent until somebody knocked the door.   
  
"Enter," Kaede said loudly.  
  
Their butler entered. "Master Kaede, oh, you are here as well, Master Len. Master Taka requests both of you to join him in the billiards room,"  
  
"Tell him we'll be there shortly," Kaede answered. "C'mon, let's go to the billiards room,"  
******  
On their way to the billiards room...  
"Aniki must have some problems, or he wouldn't invite both of us over there," Kaede said afterwards.  
  
"Why doesn't he want to invite us there?"  
  
"The billiards room is right next to Otoosan's bar, sometimes both of us nicked some of Otoosan's liqour to drink as we play billiards," Kaede answered. "He never really notices, though, since the servants always topped it up,"  
******  
At the billiards room...  
  
"There you are," Taka said to both of them. "I took a bottle of dry martini from dad's bar,"  
  
"A glass please, aniki," Kaede answered.  
  
"No thanks," Len declined.  
  
"Ok, who plays first?" Taka asked.  
  
"What's your problem this time, aniki?" Kaede asked instead.  
  
"Oh, nothing much, Kei and I had a quarrel again," Taka answered. "This time, over a girl,"  
  
"Kei?" Len asked.  
  
"Hana's older brother, Keisuke," Kaede supplied.  
******  
A few days later...  
The oral test was hard, and they did what they could.  
  
"There's a Dry Cell concert in Tokyo this weekend," Hana said to both of them.  
  
"I love their music," Len answered. "They are having a concert in Tokyo?"  
  
Hana nodded.  
  
"Dry Cell? Is it the rock band that sang Body Crumbles in the Queen of the Damned soundtrack?" Kaede asked.  
  
"Yup. Finally I find when I lose control, inside, my BODY CRUMBLES" Len talked and sang.  
  
"I wanted to tell both of you that Kei-nii-chan, gave me three tickets!" Hana told them. "You've to pay him though,"  
  
"Ok, I love their music, I wouldn't mind going, what about you, Kaede?" asked Len.  
  
Kaede thought for a moment. He doesn't really like rock that much, but he didn't want Len to get the added advantage either.  
  
"I'll go with both of you," he answered.  
  
Hana jumped, and hugged Kaede. "Good, both of you pick me up, and Kei-nii-chan is going with us as well, you could invite Taka-san, Kaede, I think Kei-nii-chan bought him a ticket," Hana said.  
  
"Kei-san is having a row with aniki," Kaede said.   
  
Hana crumpled her face. "Ouch, when those two have a row, don't ever interfere, really scary," Hana said, emphasizing the word 'scary'.  
******  
They've to ride the 'Shinkansen' to go to Tokyo, and Kei decided to bring the youngsters around Tokyo first before going to the concert area, so they are leaving early from Kanagawa.  
  
At the train station...  
"Who are we waiting for again, Hana?" asked Kei. Len and Kaede are there, and so does Kei's newest and latest girlfriend.  
  
"My other friend, he said he'd be here soon," Hana answered, worried.  
  
"Sorry, minna, I'm late!" shouted the always cheerful voice of the Ryonan ace.  
  
"There you are, Akira," Hana replied. "C'mon, let's go,"  
  
End of chapter 6 - please read and review 


	7. chapter 7

A Love Within Three Hearts  
  
Disclaimer: Slam Dunk, and its original characters do not belong to me. It belongs to Inoue Takehiko. All the unoriginal characters in this fic are mine, though. What If?, A Fling and A Love Within Three Hearts is a trilogy. If you haven't read the other two stories, read those first.  
Summary: Hana got back from the States already. Len also too. Set during Hana and Kaede's second year.  
A/n: Kaede and Taka wants their other brother, Len to fit in. So, expect OOC in Kaede's case.  
  
Chapter 7  
At the concert...  
"Are you all ready to party? Tokyo?" shouted the lead singer. "It's Jeff here!"  
  
"Yes!!!!" shouted Hana at the top of her lungs. "Jeff, I LOVE YOU!"  
  
"I love you too, baby!!!" shouted Jeff back, making both Kaede and Len scowl.  
  
"Our first song will be-," shouted Jeff before everyone shouted back, "Slip Away! Slip Away! Slip Away!"  
  
The chant goes on until Jeff shouted, "You guessed it! Slip Away!"  
  
Kaede looked around him, his 'brother' Len, is headbanging along with Hana. Sendoh just swayed his body a little bit, and bop his head up and down, while Keisuke, Keisuke's singing the same song to his girlfriend, and didn't really notice that Kaede's there. Noticing that he's the only one at the area not jumping up and down, and headbanging, Kaede decided to take Sendoh's example.  
  
The music was so loud that Kaede was sure, something will be wrong with his eardrums afterwards. He glanced at Len and Hana, who's headbanging and singing along with the band.   
  
"I don't understand this world that we are living in, people give you things so they can take it back again, I don't wanna be, part of history, I just want my life to be the way that it should be. Every now and then I find a slip away, every now and then, there's only so much I can take.." sang the lead singer, Jeff.  
  
Kaede pondered at the lyrics, slip away. That's what he'd been trying to do to Hana before. Slipping away from Hana.   
  
A while after that, the band started another song, this time slower...  
  
"Tokyo! We present to you, Last Time-"  
  
"Fast Version!" people shouted.  
  
"They say it's true, something's not right, they laughed at you..." Jeff softly sang. "They don't know you, not inside..."  
  
'They don't know you, not inside,' Kaede thought. The only person other than Taka to know Kaede inside is Hana herself, and sometimes, Anzai-sensei.  
  
"Made you lose your insight, it's all right, it's ok, you'll never far away," sang Jeff. Kaede suddenly felt an urge to be with Hana. He knew that she'll never be far away, but somehow, he wanted to be close with her now.  
*****  
When the concert finally ended...  
It was 2 or is it 3 in the morning. All six of them wearily walked away from the concert area.  
  
"So what do you think of the band, Kaede?" asked Hana, who's still energetic.  
  
"Awesome, they are great, Hana," Kaede answered. "I love the song, So Long Ago,"  
  
"So Long Ago, is about a guy who broke up with his girlfriend, but he still remember her very well in his mind," Hana answered.  
  
"Just like me, then," Kaede whispered, but only Hana and Sendoh heard it. Hana was startled, and Sendoh, understanding.   
  
"Hey, there's a Ramen Store that still opens, let's go and eat first before we go home!" Hana shouted, pointing at a Ramen store.  
  
"No, Hana, let's just eat the meals sold at the station, we could eat them in the train," Keisuke protested.  
  
"All right, all right, Kei-nii-chan," Hana said, and sleepily walked with them, and dropped onto Kaede's hands.  
  
"Hana!" everyone panicked.  
  
"It's ok, she's just tired, let me just hold her," Kaede soothed everyone, and scooped Hana up.  
  
"Is she not heavy, Rukawa?" asked Sendoh.   
  
"Not really," said the 187cm tall small forward. Hana is still, after all, 11 cm shorter than he is, or is it 9cm, the girl after all boasted that she gained 2cm last fall again.  
  
Len looked jealous, why does Hana had to fall down in Kaede's arm?  
  
With her eyes closed, she whispered, so that only Kaede could hear, "Kaede... aishiteru,"  
  
Kaede was startled, but didn't show it. 'She's asleep, she's probably talking nonsense now, she won't remember any of it,' he soothed himself.  
******  
At the train, Hana rested her head at Kaede's shoulders, making Len very jealous indeed.   
  
"I think they are gonna be together once more, don't you think?" asked Sendoh, who's sitting next to Len.  
  
Len didn't answer Sendoh. "When I first met Hana, I fancied her as well, and I kinda feel something called 'love' but, Hana didn't get attracted towards me, and it's just a friendly affection. At first, I don't know why it's like that..." Sendoh said.  
  
"Until when we shared our first kiss. It was so cold, I could feel the ice, we then decided to remain friends, as we are waaaaay too similar with each other. Hana often went to talk to me if Mito, her only serious best friend among her army, is not around to hear her problems," Sendoh continued.  
  
"Did she do anything when she broke up with Kaede?" asked Len.  
  
"Hmm, not studying, sleeping in class, well, she *usually* sleep, but she *listens* to the teacher first before sleeping," Sendoh answered. "Played very very badly, didn't come to practice, didn't come to extra classes, etc, etc,"  
  
"She must have had taken it very bad," Len commented.  
  
"She did, you know what did she first do, before anything else?" asked Sendoh.  
  
"Umm, lemme guess, I did one thing when I broke up, not with Hana, I threw the framed photograph of me and the ex-girlfriend towards the marble floor," guessed Len.  
  
"Exactly, she did just that, when, nobody's around the house," Sendoh confirmed. "But her brother, the one in the US..."  
  
"Ah, Ryu,"  
  
"Yes, Ryu, was at home, and heard the commotion. Hana did go to school, if I'm not mistaken, the next morning, and had to face Rukawa who's sitting behind her," Sendoh continued. "She didn't come to practice though,"  
  
"How did you know about the break-up?" asked Len.  
  
"Being a proud person, Hana didn't tell me anything, didn't tell me straight away. Not that I asked, anyway, but when she's leaving for the States, I noticed Rukawa's not around, seeing her off. So, I got the information out of Hikoichi, Ryonan's team manager, who gladly researched the information for me. After I heard it from Hikoichi. I asked Fujima if it's true, since after Mito and me, and if Hana didn't want any fights, she go for Fujima, who considered Hana his little sister, and Fujima confirmed it," Sendoh answered.   
  
"So, the reason why she went to the States is to escape from Kaede, and find a new guy?" asked Len.  
  
"Well, the plan *was* originally like that, because two months after that, Rukawa would have been taken into the Under 16 Japanese Basketball Squad. But, Rukawa did something wrong during the basketball youth camp..." Sendoh answered.  
  
"What did he do?" asked Len.  
  
"He played very very badly, he admitted to still having love for Hana, and that's the reason why he's slacking, when he's one of the best players before, and at the camp, he's one of the worst," Sendoh continued. "When Miyagi's injured, he was rushed back home to Shohoku, and you know the story why Hana had to go home,"  
  
"Yeah, Keisuke was injured, and so's Miyagi," Len said.  
  
"Both of them love each other, you know how they met?" asked Sendoh, and a smile formed at his lips.  
  
"How?"  
  
"Well, I heard from Mito that Hana's *sleeping* on her brand new bike, when Rukawa, who's also *sleeping* on his bike, crashed into her," Sendoh answered, and tried not to laugh, he was imagining the scenario. "Mito said, 'it was love at first crash,'"  
******  
the Rukawa home...  
Len's bedroom  
Len lied down on his bed, the words, 'it was love at first crash' kept ringing in his head.  
  
"Did I steal her away from my own twin brother?" he asked himself. "No, I didn't,"   
  
"Of course, I didn't!" he said to himself again.  
*****  
School...  
During maths...  
"Sorry for the interruption, minna!" said the person at the PA system. "The Student Council are going to hold an event called, "The Star of Shohoku", where anyone, who's brave enough, can perform songs, drama, dance, anything! Everyone are invited to participate, and the preliminary will start next Tuesday, 5 pm at the auditorium, anyone interested, please attend the preliminary. End of announcement, arigatou,"  
  
'I'm going to enter,' thought Len.  
  
'Should I enter?" asked Hana to herself. 'I've got a fairly nice voice,'  
*******  
The three talked about the contest before the beginning of their next lesson, Biology.  
  
"Are you going to enter the contest, Hana?" asked Youhei.  
  
"Hana can sing?" asked Len.   
  
Youhei rolled his eyes. "Of course she can sing, Len, back when all of us were single, we used to go to the Karaoke with Kei-kun," he answered.  
  
"I don't know, Youhei. Let's see if I want to," Hana answered.  
  
Len suddenly decided not to tell them that he's thinking of entering. He's thinking of singing one of the Dry Cell songs. But to sing Dry Cell, he needs a band. He watched as Hana joked around with Kaede.   
  
'I definitely need to sing one or two sappy romance songs,' he thought.  
*****  
Nobody knows that Len went to the preliminaries, as it was closed to all except the Student Council members and the teachers.  
  
At the basketball court...  
"Where's your brother, Kaede?" asked Miyagi.  
  
Kaede shrugged his shoulders. "Don't know," he monotonely muttered.  
*****  
"Congratulations, Rukawa-kun, you made it into the Finals," said one of the Student Council members.  
  
"Thank you," Len answered, and strode off to basketball practice.  
  
end of chapter 7 - please read and review. 


	8. chapter 8

A Love Within Three Hearts  
  
Disclaimer: Slam Dunk, and its original characters do not belong to me. It belongs to Inoue Takehiko. All the unoriginal characters in this fic are mine, though. What If?, A Fling and A Love Within Three Hearts is a trilogy. If you haven't read the other two stories, read those first. Song lyrics: Truly Madly Deeply belongs to Savage Garden and their record company. Make A Wish belongs to Vic Zhou and his record company.  
  
Summary: Hana got back from the States already. Len also too. Set during Hana and Kaede's second year.  
A/n: Kaede and Taka wants their other brother, Len to fit in. So, expect OOC in Kaede's case.  
  
Chapter 8  
Star of Shohoku Contest  
"Ladies and Gentleman, boys and girls, welcome to the much awaited event of the year!" announced one of the MCs.  
  
"Welcome to "The Star of Shohoku" contest! There were more than 40 participants who participated in the preliminaries before," said another MC.  
  
"Today, we are going to hear the talent of 20 people who will be performing right in front of our eyes,"  
  
"Now, let's hear the first contestant, Nakajima Hani, who will be playing the piano,"   
****  
Hana and the rest sat at one of the rows. Her eyes scanned for Len, but he's nowhere in sight. Right now, some kid she doesn't know was playing a really really sappy song on the piano.  
  
After that, there's another kid who sang an Utada Hikaru song. Hana groaned. Kaede, who's beside her chuckled.  
  
"Can't she sing another song?" Hana muttered.  
  
And followed by series of people singing, and dancing. Hana especially enjoyed the rock number played by a band who called themselves simply, Rock.  
  
"They must have not be able to think up of anything nice," Miyagi muttered, who's sitting near them.  
  
"Minna, after the break, we'll hear a performance by one of our new students," announced the MC.  
  
"Len entering, Kaede?" asked Hana.  
  
"I've no idea, he didn't talk to me for four days," Kaede confided. "Spent time in his room,"  
*****  
Backstage...  
Len checked his outfit. "Look's nice," he said to himself.  
  
"Very nice..." said a girl, eyeing Len's cute face.  
  
Len had chosen to wear a black shirt and black jeans. He had let his purple hair grow, and so, it's a mixture of purple and black (his normal hair colour). It's not long enough to make the teachers angry, but long enough to make him look more, handsome.   
******  
"Our next finalist, is from the 2nd year. Known for his purple hair, and identical to Rukawa Kaede. He's one of the famous guys around," announced the MC.  
  
"Rukawa Len Xiao Tian Adam, will sing two gaijin songs. Truly Madly Deeply, and Make a Wish,"  
*****  
Len walked towards the center of the stage, all the girls screamed.  
  
"This song, Truly Madly Deeply, is for someone I really love," he said.  
  
I'll be your dream I'll be your wish   
I'll be your fantasy   
I'll be your hope I'll be your love   
Be everything that you need   
I'll love you more with every breath   
Truly, madly, deeply do   
I will be strong I will be faithful 'cause I'm counting on   
  
Len searched for Hana's face among the crowd.  
  
A new beginning   
A reason for living   
A deeper meaning   
  
"Len, Aishiteru!" shouted one crazed Rukawa shinetai.  
  
I want to stand with you on a mountain   
I want to bathe with you in the sea   
I want to lay like this forever   
Until the sky falls down on me   
  
Hana listened to the song, and was captivated by Len's voice. Kaede frowned. This was why his brother spent the days in his room. He's practicing this song.  
  
And when the stars are shining brightly in the velvet sky,   
I'll make a wish to send it to heaven   
Then make you want to cry   
The tears of joy for all the pleasure in the certainty   
That we're surrounded by the comfort and protection of   
  
Len saw Hana's eyes and locked their gaze.  
  
The highest powers   
In lonely hours   
The tears devour you   
  
As he sang, some girls sang along with him.  
  
I want to stand with you on a mountain   
I want to bathe with you in the sea   
I want to lay like this forever   
Until the sky falls down on me   
  
Oh can you see it baby?   
You don't have to close your eyes   
'Cause its standing right here before you   
All that you need will surely come   
  
"Oh, how I wish Len-kun will sing this song for me," can be heard from the tons of girls in the hall.  
  
I'll be your dream I'll be your wish   
I'll be your fantasy   
I'll be you hope I'll be your love   
Be everything that you need   
I'll love you more with every breath   
Truly, madly deeply do   
  
The girls continued to sing with him. Kaede pierced a gaze at Len when he saw Hana's going to cry.  
  
I want to stand with you on a mountain   
I want to bathe with you in the sea   
I want to lay like this forever   
Until the sky falls down on me   
  
Everyone gave him a round of applause for the fantastic singing.   
  
"Thank you, Shohoku. My next song, is for someone I love as well. May I inform everyone that this next song I will be singing is in Mandarin, my mother's language," he said. "To you, wherever you are, I do hope you'll make your choice after listening to this,"  
  
dang lei si liu xing  
hua guo shou xin wo bu jing  
bie shang xin bu yao jing  
zhe ge shi jie hai nian qing  
(wo men de mong hai nian qing)  
  
"Make a wish!" Hana murmured, and tried not to cry. Len's singing Make a Wish to her!  
  
ai mei you chi pang  
ye neng fei xing dao ni xin  
bie hai pa bie dang xin  
nan dao ni mei gan ying  
zhe ai qing hao jian ding  
  
"What's he singing?" asked some girls to themselves. "It sounds sad!"  
  
will you make a wish  
make a wish  
bi shang yan jing yuan wang shi kou jing  
make a wish make a wish  
ni hui ting jian zhen cheng de hui ying  
  
"I remember this song!" squealed a girl. "I heard it in a shop when I was in Singapore!"  
  
rang wo men  
make a wish make a wish  
yi qi yue ding kan zui mei feng jing  
zhe yi qie dou bu hui shi mong jing  
  
"Oh yeah! I heard it in Taiwan!" squealed another girl. "The singer is a part of the famous Taiwanese boyband,"  
  
"You mean F4?" asked another girl.  
  
"I think it's Make A Wish by Vic Zhou," answered another girl.  
dang lei si liu xing  
hua guo shou xin wo bu jing  
bie shang xin bu yao jing  
zhe ge shi jie hai nian qing  
(wo men de mong hai nian qing)  
  
Len watched Hana as he sang the song.  
  
ai mei you chi pang  
ye neng fei xing dao ni xin  
bie hai pa bie dang xin  
nan dao ni mei gan ying  
zhe ai qing hao jian ding  
  
Hana couldn't stand it anymore. Her mind went back when they were in the States. They'll sing the song to each other, after playing basketball together.  
  
will you make a wish  
make a wish  
bi shang yan jing yuan wang shi kou jing  
make a wish make a wish  
ni hui ting jian zhen cheng de hui ying  
  
Kaede watched as tears streaked down from Hana's face. 'He must have loved her to sing this song to her,' he thought.  
  
'I never sang anything to her,' he thought again.  
  
rang wo men  
make a wish make a wish  
yi qi yue ding kan zui mei feng jing  
zhe yi qie dou bu hui shi mong jing  
  
Now, Hana sang together with Len. She had heard the song so many times now that she knew the song too well inside.  
  
will you make a wish  
make a wish  
bi shang yan jing yuan wang shi kou jing  
make a wish make a wish  
ni hui ting jian zhen cheng de hui ying  
  
Len couldn't stand it as well, he continued singing, but tears start to form at his eyes. But he need to preserve his male pride. He won't cry in front of everyone, especially not in front of Kaede.  
  
rang wo men  
make a wish make a wish  
yi qi yue ding kan zui mei feng jing  
zhe yi qie dou bu hui shi mong jing  
  
zhi yao ni quan xin quan yi xiang xin  
  
"Thank you for the sad song, Rukawa-kun," said the MC, who's crying.  
*****  
Both Kaede and Hana exited the auditorium to their roof.  
  
"Do you love him?" asked Kaede. Hana turned towards Kaede, and hugged him tight.  
  
"I love you, Kaede, but... I love him as well," Hana answered. "I thought I loved you more, but, after what Len did, I don't know anymore,"  
  
"Hana, you have to make a choice! Should it be me, or Len?" asked Kaede.  
  
"I'm trying, Kaede. Both of you were so similar, I'm sorry," Hana answered, and wiped her face, streaked with tears.  
  
Kaede walked towards her and pulled her close. "I'm sorry, for making you cry," he said.  
  
And Hana cried in Kaede's arms.   
*****  
Len rushed towards the gundam.He had just collected his prize money and trophy.  
  
"Any of you know where's Hana?" he asked.  
  
"Probably at the roof, I don't know," Yohei answered for the rest.  
  
And Len rushed to the roof, just to see...  
  
Hana and Kaede in an enveloping embrace.  
  
End of chapter 8 - please read and review. 


	9. chapter 9

A Love Within Three Hearts  
  
Disclaimer: Slam Dunk, and its original characters do not belong to me. It belongs to Inoue Takehiko. All the unoriginal characters in this fic are mine, though. What If?, A Fling and A Love Within Three Hearts is a trilogy. If you haven't read the other two stories, read those first  
  
Chapter 9  
Just as quietly as he opened the door, he exited the roof quietly, as not to disturb the two people hugging each other. Len walked away from the roof with a heavy heart.   
  
"Congratulations, Rukawa Len -san for winning the Male Solo Category," shouted a reporter from the school's newsletter club. "Can you tell us how you feel?"  
  
Len changed his sombre expression to a happy one. "I feel very happy about it. Although I didn't expect to win,"  
  
"Now that you've won the contest, are you changing clubs?" asked the reporter.  
  
"No, basketball is my love, and it will always be my love," Len answered.  
  
"What about the girl you talked about, the one you dedicate your songs to. Can you tell us who she is?" asked the reporter.  
  
"I'm sorry, I won't disclose her name. She's someone very dear to me, that's all, and I want to go home," Len answered.  
  
There's no practice that afternoon because of the event (they have class in the morning), so, Len went to the auditorium changing room to take his clothes and cycled home.  
*****  
Home...  
"I will always love you," he whispered to the framed photo of Hana.  
  
"Young master Len, your otoosan requested you to join them for dinner," said the butler, who entered the room after a knock.  
  
"Hai, I will be down as soon as possible," he said.  
*****  
A few minutes later...  
"I'm sorry for being late, Otoosan," Len apologised to Mr. Rukawa.  
  
"That's okay. Taka, where's Kaede?" asked Mr. Rukawa.  
  
"I've no idea, dad. He's supposed to come home a few minutes ago," answered Taka.  
  
"Young master Taka, young Master Kaede wished to talk to you," said the butler, handing over the cordless phone.  
  
"moshi moshi. Kaede. You couldn't come to dinner at home? Why?" Taka asked, on the phone. "Okay, I'll tell dad about it,"  
  
"What is it?" asked Mr. Rukawa.  
  
"Kaede's getting tutoring lessons from Hana. And Mrs. Sakuragi insisted that he stay for dinner," Taka explained.  
  
"Mrs. Sakuragi would love to get the two to be together again," Mr. Rukawa sighed. "I'm in for it too,"  
  
Len just listened to what his father wants to say. "Sakuragi-san may not own a factory or two, like us, but he's very talented in his profession, what's Hana's father doing again, Taka?"  
  
"If I'm not mistaken, he's a shareholder in the company he works for. I don't know, father," Taka answered.  
  
"And Hana's very beautiful, a perfect match for Kaede. Why do he broke up with her at the beginning?"  
  
"I don't know, father," Taka answered again. Taka glanced at Len, who remained silent. Taka had listened to Kaede, and knew that Len's the one who helped and fell in love with Hana in U.S. Keisuke also told him the same thing when Taka asked about it.  
  
"Are you in the same faculty as Keisuke?" asked Mr. Rukawa.  
  
"No, he took either pharmacy or medicine, I don't really remember. While I'm taking accounting," Taka answered. "We bond through badminton,"  
  
"So, Len, what do you think about Shohoku and Japan so far? You already spend almost 3 months here," said Mr. Rukawa when he noticed that Len was unusually silent.  
  
"Hmm, it's ok, I kinda enjoyed Shohoku. I just wished I could drive. It's weird not to have the lessons taught in English though," Len answered. "Except well, English grammar class and English oral class,"  
  
"Have you get on with your teammates at the basketball team?" asked Mr. Rukawa.  
  
"Why yes, just last match, Kaede and I did a combination play that startled Taoka-san, and then we did a triple combination play with Hana," answered Len.  
  
After the third course...  
"Otoosan, aniki, can I be excused? I want to catch up with my homeworks," Len said.  
  
"Well, work comes first, I'll have Smithers send the remaining courses to your room," said Mr. Rukawa.  
  
And Len went off to his room.  
  
After that...  
"Is it my imagination, Taka, or does Len admire Hana as well?" asked Mr. Rukawa.  
  
"Nope, dad. Len does not admire Hana, he *loves* her," Taka answered.  
  
"Nandato? How could that be?" asked Mr. Rukawa, obviously surprised that his twin sons are in love with the same girl.  
  
"Well, remember when Kaede and Hana broke up?" asked Taka. Mr. Rukawa nodded. "Hana went to the U.S. to at least try forget Kaede, since she's not herself,"  
  
"There's where she met Len, and Len picked up the pieces that Kaede had broken, and mended it," Taka continued. "They were a couple for a month before they broke up because Hana's going back here,"  
  
"Why'd they broke up?" asked Mr. Rukawa.  
  
"Hana doesn't want to burden Len if he falls in love with another. And vice versa," Taka explained. "Turned out Kaede couldn't forget Hana, and Len couldn't forget Hana as well,"  
  
Mr. Rukawa sighed. "I do hope that I didn't hurt his feelings just now,"  
  
"One of them has to be heartbroken. Hana has to choose. It's either Len or Kaede," Taka said.  
*******  
In Mr. Rukawa's bedroom...  
Rukawa Ren walked towards the locked cabinet. He opened it and took out the contents. One of the contents was a nearly faded monochrome photograph of a beautiful Chinese woman.  
  
"Mei Li Ann, our boys fell in love with the same girl. I don't want any of them to get hurt, Mei Li Ann. Help both Kaede and Len solve the problem because, I noticed Len and Kaede only talked to each other in front of me, during basketball practices, yes, I knew about it. And during tutoring," Mr. Rukawa said to the photograph. "I'll always love you, Mei Li Ann,"  
  
And he placed the photograph back into the cabinet. Next, he took out another old monochrome photo. This one showed a handsome Japanese youth, getting married to a beautiful young, Chinese woman.   
  
Somebody knocked on his door.  
  
"Come in," Mr. Rukawa said, not bothering to place the old picture back. Taka walked in.  
  
"Dad, what are you doing?" asked Taka.  
  
"Nothing, just reminiscing the past. Years had passed without us noticing it. You are already 21 years old. I still remember the day when I picked you up in Hokkaido. Your grandparents were reluctant to give you back," Mr. Rukawa answered.   
  
"This is Kaede and Len's mother?" asked Taka. Mr. Rukawa nodded. "She's beautiful, very beautiful, father,"  
  
"I know, I was enthralled by her beauty that time," Mr. Rukawa replied.  
  
"And this is you. You look like Kaede, except for your eyes. He has his mother's eyes," Taka said. "Father, is Kaede and Len's mother's hair reddish?"  
  
Taka asked this because he noticed that Mei Li Ann's hair was shown to be greyish, which meant it's not blond, or it would be white, and it's not dark either, or it would be black, and so, he guessed it must be reddish.  
  
"Yes, it is. She inherited it from her mother, who's Scottish American," Mr. Rukawa answered.   
  
"Dad, if you see her closely, I think she looks like Hana!"  
  
"Are you sure?" asked Mr. Rukawa and looked closely. "There are some resemblance, but no, she doesn't look like Hana,"  
  
"I asked Keisuke once, where the Sakuragi siblings got their red hair. Keisuke explained that his father is half Canadian half Japanese, while his mom, half Scottish half Japanese," Taka said.  
  
Mr. Rukawa nodded absentmindedly. "All of you inherited my black hair. But unfortunately none of you inherited my brown eyes. You have your mother's eyes, Taka,"  
  
Taka smiled, his green eyes twinkling. Mr. Rukawa could see Taka's mother when he smiled like that, Oshin smiled the same way. "And your mother's smile, too bad we don't love each other, and didn't do anything to save the marriage,"  
  
"It's not your fault, Otoosan. Even if you didn't get divorced that time, you could be divorced anytime. And, if you were still married to Okaasan, both Kaede and Len will cease to exist," Taka answered. "Both of you didn't love each other, it's already a broken marriage from the start. I wonder how in the world both of you got me,"  
  
Hearing that, Mr. Rukawa smiled. "Your grandparents badly wanted a grandson. I fulfilled my duty to do so. I may not love Oshin, but I cared for her. Oshin didn't love me as well, and fell in love with your step-father, Tonomura. We parted in peace, and I gave the custody to Oshin because I went to New York just after our divorce. And met Mei Li Ann Adam,"  
  
"Okaasan always told me not to refer Tonomura-san as otoosan, I only knew why after she died with Tonomura-san during the unexpected air-crash," Taka answered.  
*****  
At the Sakuragi's...  
They waited for Keisuke to return home before having dinner, as Hana tutored Kaede in her room.  
  
"Hana, Kaede, dinner!" shouted Keisuke.  
  
"Hai!" Hana shouted. "Let's take a break first,"  
  
"Arigatou. I'm bored looking at the book," Kaede admitted. "What do you think are on the menu?"  
  
"Hmm, I don't know. Knowing mum, maybe something original that she whipped up," Hana answered. "Last two nights, she asked me to help her make sauced squids cooked using the microwave,"  
******  
At the dining table...  
"Eat more, Kaede, you need it for basketball," Mrs. Sakuragi insisted.  
  
"Arigatou, Mrs. Sakuragi, but I think I've had enough," Kaede answered weakly. He felt really full. Mrs. Sakuragi's cooking was great as always. "What's the recipe of this chicken? I'd love to have father's chef cook it for me sometime,"  
  
"Kaede, if you ever want to eat it, you are always welcome over here," Mrs. Sakuragi answered instead. "Are you and Hana back together?"  
  
Hana choked at her iced tea. Kaede choked at his water. But both answered, "Probably,"  
  
Mrs. Sakuragi looked really pleased. She'd love to have Kaede as a son-in-law, and Hana knew that.  
******  
Hana's room...  
"When will you make up your mind?" asked Kaede.  
  
"Kaede, please," Hana answered. Kaede nodded.   
  
"I will be here for you, Hana. Remember that, I love you," Kaede replied. Hana nodded.   
*****  
Rukawa Mansion - Len's Room  
Len stood at the window. Kaede had not yet come home.   
  
'Oh Hana, please make your decision,' Len wished.   
  
End of Chapter 9 - Please read and review 


	10. chapter 10, thanks all of the reviewers ...

A Love Within Three Hearts  
  
Disclaimer: Slam Dunk, and its original characters do not belong to me. It belongs to Inoue Takehiko. All the unoriginal characters in this fic are mine, though. What If?, A Fling and A Love Within Three Hearts is a trilogy. If you haven't read the other two stories, read those first  
  
Chapter 10  
It's been three days since Kaede stayed over at the Sakuragi's for tutoring. Hana still didn't know whom she loves more. Both Kaede and Len had stared at her using patient eyes. They knew both has her love, but surely she must love one of them more.  
  
Basketball practice...  
Kanagawa District Championship is coming soon. Ayako had placed the paper showing their block matches on the wall in the gym.  
  
"We are in the B - Block," Miyagi murmured. "Hmm, we are going to be against either Takezano, Miuradai, or the others,"  
  
"What's the first match?" asked Hana.  
  
"Miuradai against Takezano," Yasuda answered.  
  
"Takezano is Oda's school, they'll beat Miuradai for sure!" Hana answered.  
  
"You sound as if you are supporting Oda's school," Kaede stated.  
  
"Nope, I'm not. I wanna see if he improves in the game. Wanna watch the match with me, Kaede, Len?" asked Hana.  
  
Kaede nodded, while Len answered, "Sure,"  
  
"Hmm, Takezano could be the one we are going to be up against for the last match, maybe me and Yasuda will check it out as well," Miyagi murmured.  
******  
District Championship Match - Miuradai Versus Takezano  
Hana, Kaede and Len sat at the very front. Hana waved at Fuji, who's watching with her friends, and mouthed 'good luck' to her and Oda. Miyagi and Yasuda sat next to Hana, Len and Kaede.  
  
The Miuradai players came out first, and one of the players shouted, "We don't care about Takezano! We only wanted to beat Shohoku High!"   
  
"You can never beat us, morons!" shouted Hana and Miyagi at the same time.  
  
Miuradai lost badly to Takezano by 20 points. Miuradai 40, Takezano - 60.  
  
Takezano also won all their block matches, and so, is up against Shohoku next.  
*******  
Final Block match - Shohoku versus Takezano.  
Lots of people turned up to watch the match. Len's a bit nervous, this is the first time he played publicly in Japan.  
  
"Hey, it'll be okay," Hana told him when she noticed him nervous. "We'll do a triple combination play if Anzai-sensei put me in,"  
  
Len nodded. They had been practicing their triple combination play for almost a month. Hana would either pass to any one of them if any of the opposing team members' guards her tightly or do a zone defence on her. And they'd pass to Hana if they were being guarded tightly.  
  
Oda watched as Hana talked to the guy with the purple hair. This is the first time he plays against Hana since the practice match a year ago. She's grown taller, and Oda knew, their point guard will have a tough time defending her.  
  
At the audience...  
Fujima, Hanagata, Akagi, Kogure, and Mitsui watched with Keisuke, Taka and the gundams. While Maki and Jin watched Kainan being up against another team at another stadium.   
  
"I don't think Hana will enter, yet," Fujima predicted.  
  
"Hana's our secret weapon," Kogure said. "I agree with you,"  
  
"Nope. Hana will enter now, Miyagi's having a little trouble with his leg," Mitsui said. "Last year, Hana's our secret weapon, nobody knows she's that good, but this year-"  
  
"Len is the secret weapon, Mitsui. I've seen the way he plays with Kaede. He's good," Taka supplied.   
  
"We just hope he will be," Akagi hoped.  
  
At the Shohoku bench...  
"Starting members for today: Rukawa Kaede, Miyagi, Mikage, Touki and Rukawa Len ," Anzai-sensei announced. "All of you know what to do,"  
  
"Hai!" they chorused.  
  
Takezano's coach had announced their starting members as well, Jerseys 5 (Oda), 7, 9, and 13 came out.  
  
"Len, guard #5, Mikage, take three pointers and guard #11, I, guard #7, he's the point guard, Touki guard #13, Kaede, guard #9, " said Miyagi to all of them.   
  
"Hai!" they shouted. "We ARE STRONG!"  
  
Kaede and Takezano #9 went to do the jump shot. Kaede got the ball and swished it to Miyagi, who passed to Mikage, and Mikage scores! Earning Shohoku 3 points. Takezano tried to score after that, but Touki got the rebound and passed to Miyagi, who passed to Kaede, and Kaede dunks, adding up the score to 5.   
  
When the score is 45-5, Hana entered, taking over Miyagi's place. The three of them, Hana, Len, and Kaede did a high five before continuing the game. Certainly, Hana's arrival had made the Shohoku players more confident. Hana would pass to any of them, but particularly, more to either Kaede or Len  
  
Akagi watched Kaede's twin closely. The twins only resembles each other in facial features and height, but the style of playing is so different. Len always pass and never scores, but he took all the rebounds.  
  
"Hana, Rukawa and Len had combined their style of playing to be a triple combination. Hana still plays like me, and Rukawa and Len had other styles. But look at that," Fujima murmured.  
  
Hana is being guarded by three players, seeing that Len is free, she passed to Len, and the three players went to guard Len, who faked as if to pass to Kaede or Hana, but instead, scores!  
  
"Wow! Look at that! Rukawa and Sakuragi even thought that he's going to pass to either of them!" Kogure said. "You've got a brilliant brother, Taka,"   
  
"Half-brother, Kogure. Len had been staying and playing basketball in U.S. all his life," Taka answered.  
  
In the end, Shohoku won 170 - 50. Kaede and Hana hugged, and then, Len hugged Hana. The twins, however, high fived each other. Miyagi high fived Hana, thanking her for doing such a splendid job.   
  
"Looks like we owe Hana a dinner again, Toru," Fujima sighed.  
  
"Don't tell me the two of you betted that she going to score 30 points all on her own, eh?" asked Keisuke.   
  
"We did," Toru answered. "She's doing extremely well,"  
  
"She improves so fast!" Akagi muttered.   
*******  
Shoyo, Kainan and Ryonan made it to the final round as well. And Shohoku's first match is with Ryonan.  
  
"Okay, we've been playing against Ryonan a lot of times. We must defeat Ryonan again," Miyagi gave his pep talk.   
  
"Don't worry Shortie, we'll play our best," Hana said.  
  
"I know you will, and remember, we are strong!" Miyagi answered.  
  
"Hai!"  
  
At the audience...  
"They must defeat Ryonan!" Akagi muttered.   
  
"Aah, I guess Anzai-sensei will put Hana in early again, or why does it look as if Miyagi's entering?" Kogure wondered.  
  
"Gambatte! Shohoku!" shouted Mitsui. The present Shohoku members nodded at their supporters, the ex-Shohoku players.  
  
Both Fujima and Hanagata went to watch Shoyo play against Kainan, which happened to take place at the same time in a different stadium.  
******  
At the benches  
Shohoku Bench...  
"We ARE STRONG!" shouted the Shohoku players.  
  
"Hohohoho," Anzai-sensei laughed. "You are indeed strong. The starting members for today, Rukawa Kaede, Rukawa Len, Sakuragi, Mikage, Miyagi,"  
  
"Kaede, you play small forward cum center today, Len, get all the rebounds that you can get, Sakuragi, help Miyagi guard Sendoh, and Mikage, get as much three pointers as you can," Anzai-sensei instructed.  
  
"HAI!" they shouted, and walked towards the court.  
  
Ryonan Bench...  
"Sendoh, you realise that you have to play 100% today?" asked Taoka-sensei.  
  
"Hai, I know," Sendoh answered.  
  
"Okay, the starting members for today... Sendoh, Koshino, Fukuda, Asagari, and Yamazaki," Taoka sensei said. "You all know what to do,"  
  
"Hai!" they chorused, and walked to the court.  
*******  
"Shohoku Versus Ryonan," shouted the referee. "Game Start!"  
  
End of Chapter 10, please read and review... 


	11. chapter 11

A Love Within Three Hearts  
  
Disclaimer: Slam Dunk, and its original characters do not belong to me. It belongs to Inoue Takehiko. All the unoriginal characters in this fic are mine, though. What If?, A Fling and A Love Within Three Hearts is a trilogy. If you haven't read the other two stories, read those first  
  
Chapter 11  
  
The referee threw the ball in the air, and both Kaede and Sendoh jumped for it, but Kaede jumped higher and swished it to Miyagi, who passed to Hana. Hana tried to make a three pointer, but it rebounded off the hoop.   
  
Len got the rebound, and slam dunked the ball. Shohoku gains 2 points. Koshino angrily took the ball, and lead the team towards the offence area. He passed to Sendoh, who's being guarded by Hana. Hana stole the ball, but, oh my! Sendoh stole it back, and passed to Fukuda, who made a jump shot.  
  
"I haven't seen you score yet," Len said to Sendoh, while they are guarding each other.  
  
"It's not time yet, I'm only using 50% of my ability for now," Sendoh lied.  
  
"Oh really?" asked Len. "To a Western basketball player, you are using 5%,"   
  
At the same point, Hana passed to Len, and Len eluded Sendoh, who were shocked by what Len just said. Len scored.   
  
After that, when Sendoh got the ball from Koshino...  
  
"What you said made me get out my full potential," Sendoh said to Len. "I'm playing 100% now,"  
  
"Huh," Len replied.   
  
"Is this what you called 100%?" Len asked, and snatched the ball in mid air and passing it straight to Miyagi.   
  
But Fukuda managed to steal it from Miyagi after that, and Fukuda passed to Sendoh again, and Sendoh tried to shoot, and Len jumped to get the rebound.  
  
"I've played with a whole team of players better than you, Sendoh Akira," Len arrogantly said, and took the rebound.  
  
Like last year, Shohoku and Ryonan are evenly matched. The difference of the scores go up and down, and sometimes even. Nobody could guess which team will win.  
  
Sendoh could not believe that he is actually getting influenced by Len's taunting, but nonetheless, he gave Len one of his smiles, and played, even though he is affected by it inside.  
  
~~Half-time~~  
  
At half time, the score is even, 40-40  
  
Shohoku locker room  
  
"Miyagi, 2 fouls, Sakuragi, 1 foul, Mikage, 2 fouls, Rukawa, no foul, Rukawa, no foul," Ayako announced.  
  
"Team, we need to broaden the score range," Miyagi said. "We've never lost to Ryonan..."  
  
"Except during the practice match last year when both you and Mitcchy's not there," Hana supplied. "We lost by two points,"  
  
"Len, I don't know what you did just now, but you actually slowed Sendoh's point getting down a little bit," Miyagi said. "Keep it up,"  
  
Len nodded at once. "Hai, captain,"   
  
"Mikage, get as much three pointers as you can, I knew you could do it," Miyagi said.  
  
"Hai, captain!" the boy answered.  
  
"Rukawa Kaede, do what you did last year, and never fail to pass to either Hana or Len if necessary,"   
  
Kaede nodded.  
  
"Hana, stop Fukuda if you could," Miyagi instructed.  
  
Hana nodded. "I'll do my best, Ryo-chin,"  
  
"Hana, Kaede, Len, I need to talk to the three of you privately," Anzai-sensei said. All three nodded, The rest of the team, including Ayako and Haruko went out of the locker room.  
  
"I don't know what's the problem lying within the three of you, but I do hope... that the three of you set aside your problem for now, to get your potential out fully. I don't see any of your combination play just now," Anzai-sensei lectured.  
  
The three of them stood silent. The room was so silent that a drawing pin could be heard if it is dropped to the ground.  
  
"We'll do our best, Anzai-sensei. We'll forget about the problem, for now," Hana answered. "Right, Kaede, Len? We need to win,"  
  
Kaede and Len grudgingly nodded.  
  
"We ARE strong!" Hana said, putting her hand out. "Kaede, DO YOU WANT TO BEAT SENDOH?" Kaede put his hand on top of Hana's.  
  
To Len, who still didn't put his hand on top of Kaede's. Hana shouted to Len, "DO YOU WANT TO PROVE THAT YOU ARE FROM THE STATES?"  
  
Len put his hand out on top of Kaede.   
  
"Good that the three of you are finally settled, I know you are strong, ho ho ho ho," Anzai sensei said, and went out. The three followed after him.  
  
******  
  
Ryonan Locker room...  
  
"You've done your best to stop Rukawa Len, Sendoh, but you haven't stopped him enough," Taoka-sensei said.   
  
"He managed to score 4 three-pointers, 4 jump shots, and he had cut you seven times, and managed to steal the ball 8 times, and get almost all the rebounds," their manager read from the record.  
  
Sendoh nodded.   
  
"Sensei, what if we make box one defence against Shohoku?" Koshino suggested.  
  
Taoka-sensei thought about it for a moment, and then answered, "Hmm, there's a possiblity, but who do you want to guard so tightly?"  
  
"Sakuragi Hana, she tend to pass to all the people who then became the finisher," Koshino said.  
  
"Do a box-one on Hana?" Sendoh outraged.  
  
"Sendoh, Sakuragi Hana may be your friend off the court, but today, on the court, she's the enemy, you must remember that," Taoka-sensei defended Koshino. "You do want to win, don't you?"  
  
"Hai, sensei," Sendoh answered.  
  
******  
  
On their way back to court, Hana felt an instinct.   
  
"Ryocchin! Anzai-sensei!" Hana called.  
  
"Yes, Sakuragi?" asked Anzai-sensei.  
  
"What, Hana?" asked Ryota.  
  
"I have this feeling that Ryonan will do box-one defence," Hana answered. "I don't know why. I felt that could happen,"  
  
"Interesting," Anzai-sensei answered. "Who do you think will be guarded that tightly?"  
  
"Either me, or Kaede, or Len, or Miyagi," Hana answered. "They don't think you are a threat, Mikage,"  
  
"Ok, if your feelings are right, Hana, one of you will be guarded by one player, while the others were guarded by four players at once, the one guarded by one player, do a three-pointer shot, if you know how to do it," Anzai-sensei instructed. "If it rebounds off the hoop, Len or Kaede, if both of you aren't guarded by the one player, take the rebound and dunk it straight,"  
  
"Hai!" Both the Rukawa brothers answered at once.  
  
******  
  
At the court...  
  
Shohoku team  
  
"Remember boys, and Hana, that, you are strong," Anzai-sensei adviced.  
  
"Hai!" they chorused, and entered the court.  
  
Ryonan team  
  
"Remember our defense tactic, boys," Taoka-sensei said.  
  
"Hai," they chorused, and entered the court.  
  
This time, Len became centre, and both he and Sendoh jumped for the ball, but Len got it first, and passed to Miyagi, who passed to Hana. Hana dribbled towards Shohoku offence area.   
  
Immediately, Koshino guarded her, while Sendoh mouthed 'sorry' when he and the other players guarded the other four players inside.   
  
~~At the audience~~  
  
"BOX ONE?" Mitsui outraged, remembering the time when he was defended using Box One by his rival from Shoyo.  
  
"Hmm, yes, I wonder how Sakuragi will handle that," Akagi wondered.  
  
"THAT WAS BRILLIANT OF HER!" Akagi roared when he saw that Hana swished the ball to make a three-pointer.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
At the court  
  
Koshino shouted, "REBOUND," But there was no rebound, because the ball falls cleanly into the basket. Shohoku's leading by three points.  
  
"Darn!" Koshino muttered, and passed the ball to Sendoh who made dribbled towards Ryonan offence area.   
  
And again, Len uses his psychological tactics with Sendoh.  
  
"Are you playing 100%, Sendoh?" asked Len.   
  
Sendoh nodded.   
  
"In the States, especially my old school, half of us are better than you," Len said, and stole the ball when Sendoh was in a mid-shock. Len then passed to Hana.  
  
She dribbled the ball towards Shohoku offense area, and passed to Mikage, who did a three pointer, just before the Ryonan players has the chance to do box one again. Unfortunately, the three-pointer rebounded off the hoop, and Len, Kaede, and Yamazaki jumped for it, but Len got the rebound, and slam dunked the ball. Shohoku's now leading by five.  
  
When Shohoku's leading by eight points, Taoka-sensei called a charged time-out. After the time-out, Ryonan cut the lead by five points, and Shohoku add it back up to seven, and it continued that way until Ryonan cut the lead by three points.  
  
Just before the end of the game, both Shoyo and Kainan players went to watch Shohoku and Ryonan play. Kainan had won the game, again, by three points. Kiyota Nobunaga watched his all-time rival, Rukawa Kaede.   
  
Kiyota watched as the pale ravenhead passes the ball to Len, and Len passes to Hana, who passes to the new player, Mikage, who did a three pointer.  
  
"Strange, sensei, did I really see Rukawa Kaede pass?" Kiyota asked.  
  
Takato-sensei watched the pale ravenhead, and nodded. "Yes, Kiyota, he passed the ball,"  
  
Maki, who had just got back from watching Kainan against Shoyo, watched the game with his old team.   
  
"Sensei, who is that purple haired boy?" asked Maki. "He sure looks a lot like Rukawa,"  
  
"Why, yes, he really does look like Rukawa," Takato-sensei answered. "Shohoku has a secret weapon again after all. I wonder what is his weakness,"  
  
*****  
  
In the end, without showing much of their triple combination play due to the presence of Shoyo and Kainan, Shohoku won by 3 points 93-90. They just need to win 2 matches more, to wrestle the championship trophy from Kainan.  
  
********  
  
The next day...  
  
"Okay, team, we need to win against Kainan and Shoyo to be the champion of the district championship," Miyagi said to the rest of them.  
  
"We won against Shoyo before, but I doubt that it'll be easy to beat them again," Hana muttered.  
  
********  
  
Sakuragi residence...  
  
"Is Hana home?" asked Fujima.  
  
"Aah, Kenji, Toru, come in, nope, Hana's still out, practicing," Keisuke answered.  
  
"We want to take her to a dinner, you remember our bet?" asked Hanagata.  
  
"Yup, I remember that very well, there she is," Keisuke said again, after seeing Hana enter the gates.  
  
"Kenji-nii-chan, Toru-nii-chan, are you going to bring me to that dinner that you promised?" asked Hana.  
  
"Yup, go and freshen yourself up, while we wait for you at the sitting room," Toru answered.  
  
End of chapter 11 - please read and review   
  
A/n: I noticed that I couldn't really write a chapter just about the match like I did in What If? There's something wrong with me, but I don't know what it is. Hmm... my mind is probably too caught up about the Len-Hana-Kaede love triangle. 


	12. Chapter 12

A Love Within Three Hearts 

Disclaimer: Slam Dunk, and its original characters do not belong to me. It belongs to Inoue Takehiko. All the unoriginal characters in this fic are mine, though. What If, A Fling and A Love Within Three Hearts is a trilogy. If you haven't read the other two stories, read those first.

A/N: I have been abandoning this fic (and all my other fics) for a long time (gomen everyone), well... that time I lost my inspiration to write, and then now that two years have passed, I decided to go back and reread my old fics at (I've been back at countless of times, but only to read HP and sometimes Paradise Kiss and Hana Yori Dango, fics), imagine my surprise when sometimes I can't believe that's what I wrote. That shows how bubbly I was before, because almost all my stories have this bubbly thing in it. Maybe it's because, when I first started writing fics, whether slam dunk, HYD, Harry Potter, I was still in high school, where everything is sweet (though sometimes not), naive, innocent (though I'm rarely called innocent due to my love for yaoi) and I hate saying this, but high school is easy, and now as I grew up (I'm now in my second year in university), I'm not as bubbly as I was when I was in high school. It's almost as if angst has ridden in my life (not to mention that my boyfriend dumped me when I started uni and now is going to be married to his new girlfriend, and although now, a year later, I'm over him, it still hurts a little bit to acknowledge the fact that he has somebody new while I'm still single as I can't find any guy that caught my fancy and the uni population didn't help with only 1/4 boys and 3/4 girls, and with the science faculty (my faculty) having the least number of boys in all its programs), and in my program, Biological Sciences, there's NO BOYS at all! And back to the fic, 'A Love Within Three Hearts' caught my fancy, and it tugged me to write the next chapter, even though I haven't been watching/reading slam dunk for two years. I reread all three stories (i.e. What If, A Fling n A Love Within Three Hearts) to see where I should continue and how the plot should go. (My favourite: What If). And so, this is my attempt in a continuation, and I hope all of you who have supported me like this attempt. :D Also, a note to Raei Dagger, thanks. Your review for What If? (the one long time ago) was also the one that inspired me to make this attempt.

By: Amyza

Chapter 12

Keisuke grinned as he saw his two good mates, Hanagata and Fujima counting their money in their respective wallets.

"I still can't believe the both of you still betted that she can't score 40 points on her own," Keisuke said and grinned.

"Oh, come off it, Kei, you do know that we did that to stimulate her competitive skills," answered Fujima.

"And it did work!" Hanagata supported. "And speaking of bets, you lost that bet with me,"

"Tsk, shame on you, Kei, not trusting your own sister's abilities," Fujima scorned.

"Hey, she was dealing with all these Kaede-Len thing, I thought that would affect her scoring," Keisuke defended himself. "Guess I'll have to pay you guys 15,000 yen. Here!"

Keisuke paid up 15,000 yen to Hanagata, because Hanagata's the one who betted with him.

Hana came out to the living room after Keisuke paid up the bet, looking all freshened up.

"Ah, Kenji-nii-chan, Toru-nii-chan, since you said I can pick the place..." Hana smiled cheekily.

"Yes we did," sighed Hanagata, wishing now that they didnt tell her that.

"So, let's go to, umm... Starbucks!" Hana said happily. "I want to drink some mocha latte and eat some nice stuff!"

Hanagata and Fujima sweatdropped.

Fujima thought, '_Uh, there goes my allowance_,'

Hanagata thought, '_there goes the money I won from Keisuke_'

"Uh, all right," answered Fujima. Considering that the nearest Starbucks cafe near their place is well... they need to take the monorail to go there. And thus, that means, they have to pay for Hana's ticket as well.

Starbucks

The two tall cagers and Hana sat at a very excluded booth, away from prying eyes.

"Ne... the place is very peaceful, just what I need after a totally exhausting practice," Hana sighed.

"Physically exhausting or mentally exhausting?" asked Hanagata.

"Or both?" asked Fujima.

"Both, up to a point where sometimes I said to myself, '_oh my god, get me out of here!_'" answered Hana. "During practice, Ryocchin placed me in the same team as the twins, its easier, coz i can just pass to any of them, and u know, do our normal three-combo play, but Ryocchin can't make up his mind whether to put me in Kaede or Len's team if the twins play separately."

"So, I had to play three times, first, with the both of them, and then, rest, and then, play with Kaede's team, and then play with Len's team," continued Hana.

"The only good thing coming out of it is that I get more practice than usual, and there's two people helping me at shot practices, because now I do 1200 shots daily" Hana grinned.

"And that's why you want to drink a big shot iced decaf mocha latte,eat lasagna followed by tiramisu?" asked Hanagata.

"Don't forget the New York Cheesecake, Toru," added Fujima.

"Never mind, I'm gonna metabolise all these tomorrow anyway," answered Hana. "But I do want to go find Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream later coz I have a craving for ice cream."

"Don't they serve ice-cream here?" asked Fujima. _Surely they do, right?_

"naah, I want Ben & Jerry's," answered Hana.

Fujima and Hanagata can only sighed.

"Ok, now spill about those two, which one do you gravitate more now?" asked Fujima.

"That's the funny part, I'm gravitating towards and away from the both of them," answered Hana. "It's like, I'm so with the both of them, I can't make up my mind."

"Plus the fact that Anzai-sensei has asked us to forget our differences for Inter High, so, the three of us are making the best situation possible," replied Hana.

"I was thinking of suggesting them share me for a while, demo..." Hana mumbled.

"even though it's for inter high, I feel that asking them to share me is the least painful and yet, most selfish of me," Hana finished.

"Hmm..." sighed Fujima.

"With this annoying problem of mine, I can't believe how easy it is for Kei-nii-chan to juggle his girlfriends, and changes them like changing his clothes," said Hana out loud.

"And it's a good thing that the both of you are so in love with each other that you can't find a girl worth tearing the both of you apart," Hana grinned.

Fujima and Hanagata looked at each other, i.e. really looked at each other.

"Uh, Hana, Toru and I _aren't **gay**_," Fujima denied.

"Yup, the both of us are totally straight," confirmed Hanagata. "We fancy girls."

"Yare yare, that's what they **_ALL_** say _before_ they came _out_ of the closet," Hana sighed, and grinned cheekily.

"Young lady, it seems as if you've been reading too much YAOI manga and watching too much homosexual romances," said Hanagata.

Hana chuckled, and said, "Yah, Toru-nii-chan, blame it on '_Latter Days_' and watching '_Queer As Folks_', not to mention '_Love Mode_'."

"Please, kami-sama, bring us the real Hana here!" Fujima mockingly pleaded.

"And Hana, this evening is supposed to be about you, not Keisuke, not us," said Hanagata sternly.

'_God, how can I look at Kenji..._' he sighed.

"Ah, Hana, how many months did you go out with Rukawa?" asked Fujima.

"Which Rukawa?" Hana sked.

"Oh right, I mean, how many months did you go out with Kaede and how many months did you go out with Len?" asked Fujima again.

"Hmm... Len, I went out with him for a month, and broke up because even though both of us wanted the long distance relationship, we know we couldn't handle it, so, we took the best possible way, break up. With Kaede... hmm... we started going out before we went for Inter High, after beating Ryonan, hmm.. no, after our stupid retests, ah no, after Ryu-nii-chan came back for his vacation, until well.. until I went to America and him to Under-16 All Japan, and everyone knows that stupid reason we broke up," answered Hana.

"So, you had more time with Rukawa Kaede than Rukawa Len," Hanagata concluded.

"Yeah," Hana answered.

"What's the difference between the love you feel for the both of them?" asked Fujima.

End of Chapter 12 - Read and Review, people!

A/n:

'Latter Days' - a gay romantic movie concerning a very saintly guy of mormon beliefs falling in love with a 'devil', i.e. a gay man. Very cute and romantic. I like it very much. Set in L.A.

'Queer As Folk' - a gay drama series involving a close knit gay and lesbian friends. Set in Pittsburgh. Like it very much as well.

'Love Mode' - a yaoi manga as in, VERY YAOI. But it's also sweet and cute sometimes.


	13. Chapter 13

A Love Within Three Hearts 

Disclaimer: Slam Dunk, and its original characters do not belong to me. It belongs to Inoue Takehiko. All the unoriginal characters in this fic are mine, though. What If, A Fling and A Love Within Three Hearts is a trilogy. If you haven't read the other two stories, read those first.

A/N: Thanks for the review, Raei Dagger!

Chapter 13

"Hmm... come to think of it, only till now that I realise this," Hana answered. "Even though I thought about it when I was with Len."

"I used to say to myself, being in love with Len is like having a security belt all around you. There's this sense of comfort telling me that he won't hurt me," continued Hana.

"Whenever I'm with Kaede, that sense of comfort somehow never really extends so much like with Len. But when you see it in terms of chemistry, I have more chemistry with Kaede than Len," finished Hana.

"What do you really mean, the sense of comfort?" asked Hanagata.

"Kaede is a man of few words, sometimes I don't know what he's thinking, and sometimes I think he doesn't know how to treat girls. With Len, he's a true gentleman, he knows how to treat girls not just with respect, but also, with some sort of another sense," answered Hana.

At the same time at the Rukawa household...

Kaede and Len, along with Taka played pool at the pool table in the billiards room. At first Kaede and Len wanted to practice some more, but Taka forbid them from doing so.

"If Hana's having a rest by eating at a cafe, the both of you can take a rest as well," Taka reasoned.

"Ah... Len, can you tell us how Hana behave at the States?" asked Taka. Right now, Len's playing with Kaede with Taka observing.

"Hmm... she's quiet, never sleep in class, very attentive," answered Len. "First time I saw her, I don't believe that she's Japanese."

"Why?" asked Taka.

"The red hair, the eye colour, the height," answered Len.

"How do you first meet?" asked Taka.

"On her first day in school, at Kennedy. She entered my English class and introduced herself to everybody, and I shouted, _'you don't look Japanese'_," answered Len.

"She has to sit next to this Japanese-American, who look more Japanese than her, I never really remember her name, and I swore a shock came over her first time she saw me," continued Len.

"I know now the reason for the shock," added Len.

At this moment, Kaede's ball went in, signalling that Len has more time to talk.

"It's because you look very much like Kaede, minus the hair," Taka reasoned.

Len nodded, and took his turn, as Kaede missed a shot.

Kaede listened to what Len's saying. He didn't have any mood to put his two cents in.

"As you can see, we didn't have a good beginning. We had almost the same classes, which I noticed on the first day," continued Len.

"But at the end of the day, I met her when she was walking back home. I noticed she's going towards the Upper East Side, but I joined her nonetheless and we re-introduced ourselves to each other,"

Kaede hnn...

"It's a bit funny, but she never really noticed it, I think. I lived in Central Park West, and actually going to Hana's place makes _me_ take my time to go home, but I offered to walk her home nonetheless,"

"Did _you_ walk her home because she's new to New York City or what?" asked Taka teasingly.

"I never really realise why I wanted to walk her home, to tell you the truth, aniki," answered Len.

Taka was surprised, not because of the answer, but because Len calls him using the appropriate way. It took Kaede almost _four years_ to call him '_aniki_'. Well, it also took Kaede _four years_ to talk to him anyway.

"In fact, I offered to walk her home everyday. Not just after practice but also after school, when we don't have practice," continued Len.

From this moment on, the pool game was forgotten and they had moved to the bar room, with Len talking, Taka firing question and Kaede listening.

"Eventually, one day, I gathered the courage to ask her out," Len continued.

"I don't know _why_I had to gather a courage to do so, I've never really been nervous around girls," said Len again.

"My friends all tell me that I have the advantage of not having a father, and so, I have to be not just a son to my mom, but her companion," Len explained. "And so, I had to take care of her, not just her health, but also her emotions. I learnt a lot about females from just being with mom."

"What was mother like?" asked Kaede out of the blue. "I never met her."

Taka was surprised at this change of subject.

_'This is either because Kaede do not want to hear what happened or he wanted to know their mother,_' Taka thought.

"Mother was a really kind and sweet person. She has a soft spot for everybody, but she's always extremely busy, so the both of us couldn't see each other all the time, but sometimes, whenever she she misses me, she'll bring her work home, and whenever I misses her, I'll go to her office to do my homeworks," answered Len. "I really missed her now."

"How does she look like?" asked Kaede.

"I have a photo of her in my wallet, let me take it," Len answered and walked towards his room on the far side of the mansion.

"Let me join you," replied Kaede, and the twins set off to go to Len's room.

At the same time when the twins left Taka, their father, Ren, entered the bar room.

"Taka, are you downing my sake?" asked Mr. Rukawa, narrowing his eyes at his oldest son.

"You want some?" asked Taka instead, and poured a glass of sake for his father.

Mr. Rukawa noticed the two half-empty glasses left on the bar.

"Kaede and Len left for some heart-to-heart talk about their mother," explained Taka. "After I asked Len questions about Hana."

"Taka, what do you think of Len?" asked Mr. Rukawa instead.

"A good boy," answered Taka.

"Why?" asked Mr. Rukawa, surprised.

"Kaede and I drank sake, he didn't touch it. What he drank was just _Evian_," answered Taka. "He doesn't smoke, but oh well, neither Kaede and I smoke as well, and he's a gentleman towards the ladies," answered Taka.

"Maybe because of the time he spent with his mother, I know she never remarried after both of us divorced. He can't just be her son. He had to be her companion too, accompanying her to dinner parties, and all that," assumed Mr. Rukawa. "He must have missed her very much at this moment."

"I missed my okaasan very much too, otoosan. I know how Len feels. And toosan, just now Len calls me '_aniki'_!" replied Taka.

"Really?" asked Mr. Rukawa, surprised once more.

Taka nodded and smiled. "It took him _less than a year_ to call me that. It took Kaede _almost four years_ to call me that." he stated.

"Len is more open than Kaede. It's quite easy for him to accept people. That's Mei Li Ann's trademark," said Mr. Rukawa.  
In Len's room...

"I don't know why I never framed mom's pictures. But now, all her framed pictures are in her vault at the bank," said Len. "But I did keep two separate photo album of hers, you can have one."

"Thanks," answered Kaede.

Back to Hana...

"Kenji-nii-chan, if you were asked to choose between hot and cold, which one would you choose?" asked Hana.

"Hot as in sizzling hot and cold as in icy cold?" asked Kenji.

Hana nodded.

"Definitely the sizzling hot," answered Kenji.

"Toru-nii-chan, if you were asked to choose between safety and risk, which one would you choose?" asked Hana.

"I'd choose safety," answered Toru.

"And if you were to combine hot and risk and combine cold and safety, which one would you choose?" asked Fujima instead.

"I'd take hot and risk," answered Hana. "But I will still long for that sense of security."

"Who wouldn't want the sense of security?" pondered Fujima. "Ne, imouto?"

end of chapter 13 - R & R people!


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